


Dangerous Losers

by Sovereign64



Series: Impact Shared Universe [5]
Category: Fate/Apocrypha, Fate/Grand Order, Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (Anime 2014), 言の葉の庭 | Kotonoha no Niwa | Garden of Words (2013)
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Corruption, Crime Fighting, Explicit Language, Explosions, F/M, Guns, Mercenaries, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-01-16 11:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 32
Words: 177,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12341889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sovereign64/pseuds/Sovereign64
Summary: (AU Story) When the malevolent company known as Matou Industries threatens to endanger humanity, it is up to Arturia Pendragon and her team of mercenaries to take them down. They may be seven broken people, but together, they are one dangerous family. COMPLETE





	1. Welcome to the Losers, Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> At the end of _Being With You_ , I said my next main story would be a Fairy Tail story, which is still coming this November. However, I decided to post the first two chapters of this story first since this is another story idea that I can't wait to publish and show it to everyone. I hope everyone will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the _Fate series_ , Type-Moon does. And I don't own Yukino Yukari, Makoto Shinkai does.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/157269804@N02/38697587311/in/dateposted-public/)

Story cover/Artwork drawn by Reikakukoto

Check out her websites, _reikakukoto.tumblr.com_ and _reikakukoto.deviantart.com_

\----

After the school bell rang, Miss Yukari Yukino wrote the words 'Arigatou' on the chalkboard. She puts down the chalk and turns to her students.

"We have come to the end of our lesson." Miss Yukino said as she dejectedly bows down to them. "Farewell."

Most of the students in her class bow back to her. Most of them had grim looks on their faces while some began sobbing.

Miss Yukino quietly picks up her books from her desk and walks her way out of the classroom. After stepping out, she walks down the corridors and fresh tears form in her eyes as she gazed at the floor. She refused to look at anyone she passed by.

Today was her last day working as a teacher in Shinjuku High School and it will be grimly reminded as the most devastating moment in her life. All her life, she dreamt of being a teacher because she loved communicating with children and aspiring them to become better people. But now, what had been the focus and passion of her life is gone, and it was heartbreaking.

A month ago, she got into a scandal with one of the students of the school. Images of them were posted onto the Internet and it got the attention of the school's students and staff. It greatly affected her image and reputation as a teacher, as well as putting a deep impact in her relationships with her friends and family.

Despite the comforting support from her students and fellow teachers, she ultimately decided to quit teaching and leave Tokyo.

Miss Yukino fails to suppress her sob as she continues walking down the hallway with tears flowing freely down her cheeks. She now has absolutely no idea what to do afterwards and what will the future hold for her.

Can her life get any worse than this?

\----

**_Three Years Later…_ **

**_North Pacific Ocean_ **

For a few moments, Yukari stared blankly into space with her eyes widened in horror and her hands raised up. She is then roughly shoved over to a young man with black eyes, shoulder length dark blonde hair with several strands covering over his right eye and wears a white short-sleeved shirt, dark grey gloves, dark grey belt, black pants and black boots.

After she finds herself standing closely in front of him, Yukari gasps as the man holds up his .44 Magnum revolver and places it in between her eyes.

The other passengers and crew members on the ship could only gasp and scream in horror as they stood where they are and helplessly watch.

"Keep your fucking hands up in the air." The man said coldly to Yukari.

"You better obey or your head will blow up. My friend here intends to be very trigger-happy." The woman who is standing behind her said while aiming her M1911 pistol at her back. She is a young dark blue-eyed Japanese woman with long wavy black hair, her sides tied to two long ponytails by black ribbons and wears a red long-sleeved shirt with a white cross on the top middle, a black skirt, black stockings and dark brown shoes.

"Why are you doing this?" Yukari managed to whisper.

Then, the door beside the young man opens up. While still pointing his gun at Yukari, he turns his head and sees a blue-haired man, dressed in a green and yellow shirt with orange flower patterns, black pants and black shoes, coming out while wrapping an arm around the neck of a middle-aged man with short grey hair dressed in a gray suit, gray pants and black shoes.

"Hey Assassin, Rider, I found our main target." The blue-haired man smirked as he points his AK-47 rifle at the side of the man's head. The man cringed in horror as cold sweat furiously trickled down the sides of his head.

Yukari gasps in horror as she recognizes the man. _'Kodama-sama!'_

"Great work, Lancer." The dark blonde-haired man, now known as Assassin, said as his lips take the form of a smirk. He turns to the civilians behind Yukari and Rider. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're all sorry for our rude intrusion. But the ship you're all in did hold two criminals we are assigned to capture. Now that we've found them, we're going to make our leave now. So you guys can all return back to whatever you're doing in peace. Thank you all for your co-operation."

"Criminals? What do you mean by that?" Yukari asked Assassin incredulously as he turns his gaze back to her.

"Mr. Kodama here is wanted for stealing valuable data from our client. And since you were travelling with him, then that makes you his accomplice, right?" Lancer inquired.

"B-b-but-but-but…" Yukari stuttered. Then, she fell silent as Assassin places the muzzle of his revolver against her forehead. He narrows his eyes at her.

"You're coming with us, scumbag." Assassin said icily.

Assassin, Rider and Lancer then escort Yukari and Kodama out of the passenger ship by climbing down a ladder and boarding onto a small motorboat below. Rider gets into the driver's seat and start the engine while Assassin and Lancer stood behind Yukari and Kodama while pointing their guns at their backs.

As they drove off, Yukari watched in complete shock and horror as the ship that she and Kodama were originally on slowly disappears from her sight.

_'WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!'_

\----

A man with brown hair and dressed in a dark blue trench coat enters a room where a bald old man is sitting behind his desk and staring through the large glass windows of his office room. The man closes the door behind him and walks over to the front of the desk.

"Matou-sama, we received word that Norihide Kodama and his assistant, Yukari Yukino, have been captured." The brown-haired man said as he places his hands behind his back.

"By who, Kirei? The police?" Matou asked.

"No. Kodama reported to us before we lost contact with him that he has been captured by mercenaries. He did manage to leave coordinates to his current location right now."

"I see."

"What do we do about this? If we lose Kodama, we'll also lose the data we need from Caspian Corporation." Kirei inquired. The chair twirled around and the two men come face-to-face with each other.

"At least they're not the police. Rescue Mr. Kodama, retrieve the data he has taken for us and kill these meddling mercenaries." Matou said, placing his elbows onto the desk with his fingers locked together.

"What about Miss Yukino, sir?"

"Miss Yukino is just a low ranking employee who can be easily replaced. It's Mr. Kodama who is more important."

Kirei places his hand on his chest and solemnly bows down. "Yes sir."

\----

Assassin twirls his hair as he and Yukari sat down on the bow of a large metallic gray motor yacht. Rider and Lancer are currently inside the interior of their boat, placing Mr. Kodama into its only cell. They never usually brought two criminals of different genders into their yacht and because they don't want Yukari to share the cell with a male, Rider and Lancer will be asking permission from their leader to place her inside the girls' room instead.

After he finished playing with his hair, Assassin turns to Yukari who just sat next to him with her head down.

"You hadn't spoken a single word since we left the ship." Assassin said.

"I don't speak to crooks like you." Yukari replied, her eyes still gazing at the floor.

"Crooks?" Assassin arches an eyebrow. "Hypocrisy much?"

"It's not hypocrisy! It's the truth!" Yukari snapped as she finally turns her head to him. "Kodama-sama and I are just civilized businesspeople returning from a trip from California and you and your mere accomplices just come and kidnap us! Why?! Is it because of money and that's why you're holding us as hostages for some dirty ransom?!"

"Ma'am, I said before back on the ship. We didn't capture you two because we're kidnappers. We capture you two because you're criminals!"

"Bullshit! Kodama-sama and I are not criminals! We are normal and innocent civilians, unlike you!"

Assassin snickered. "Wow, you can swear. Nice!" He smiled at Yukari in amusement while she responded to him with an annoyed growl.

"Alright Assassin, Mr. Kodama is locked up securely in the cell." Lancer said as he walks over to the two. "As for Miss Yukino here, Lady Boss gave us the heads-up to place her in the girls' room."

"Got it." Assassin said. He lets out a sigh as he gets up from the floor and points his revolver at Yukari. "Get up." Yukari reluctantly obliged as she got up and raise her hands up.

"You two had some good quality time while waiting?" Lancer inquired as he stuffs his hands into his pockets.

"Fuck off, Lancer." Assassin glared at him. Lancer chortled as he turns around. Assassin then places the muzzle of revolver against Yukari's back, demanding her to move. The three then make their way into the interior of the yacht.

\----

Inside the yacht, Rider is sitting on one of the metal chairs at the dining table placed in the middle of the room. She eyes at the flash drive in her hand and mindlessly flicks the plug in and out to spend the time away.

Next to her on the left is the kitchen. A young man with messy dark orange hair and dark orange eyes is cleaning some cups at the sink. He is dressed in a long-sleeved dark blue and white shirt, blue jeans and black and grey sneakers.

On the right side of the room is a large working table filled with all sorts of building tools and equipment, placed in several boxes that are hang on a wall. A short young girl with long white hair, red eyes and wears a purple long-sleeved blouse with a lighter purple ribbon tied around her collar, a white long skirt and purple boots sat on a chair in front of the table. She has a wide smile plastered across her face and hums blissfully as she kicks her legs into the air, not having a care in the world.

The three instantly turn their heads to the stairway when they heard footsteps. The orange-haired man puts down his cup while Rider and the white-haired girl got up from their chairs as Lancer, Yukari and Assassin entered the interior.

"Well, well, well, who might this lady be?" The white-haired girl said as she places her hands on both sides of her hip, examining the black-haired Japanese woman dressed in a grey suit, white collar shirt underneath, grey pants and black shoes.

"The second criminal we've captured today, Berserker. This woman is an accomplice to our main target." Assassin replied.

"Huh?" Berserker tilts her head to the side and arches an eyebrow. "This is the female criminal whom Lancer and Rider were talking about to the Boss? I expected her to be bustier and wear more revealing clothing, just like an actual criminal." Yukari looks appalled as she noticed the girl is gazing directly at her…assets.

"What do you think, Archer? Should she have gotten a bigger bust?" Berserker asked the orange-haired man.

Archer looks at the girl for a moment before turning to Yukari. A small smirk then appears on his face and he nods. "Yup." He said, making Rider laugh.

Yukari narrows her eyes and snarls at the three. "If you delinquents are so uncivilized, I bet your boss is an even more uglier and disgusting pig!"

"Who the hell is talking shit about me?"

Yukari looks up and drops her jaw to see a short and young woman standing at the end of the room. The woman had blonde hair, tied to a ponytail, light blue eyes and wears a black tie, black suit, black gloves, black pants and brown shoes.

Archer, Rider and Berserker turn around and they all fall silent.

"Saber." Assassin nods his head as he and Lancer stare solemnly at their leader. Yukari froze and stare in horror as Saber approached her. Despite being shorter than Yukari, Saber still gave her a dark glare that would have sent anyone fainting from immeasurable horror.

"You must be Miss Yukino, the one Lancer and Rider talk to me about." Saber said flatly as she stuffs her hands into her pockets. "I would have smacked you for what you just said. But thankfully back in my country, we don't hit little girls."

"Little?" Yukari arches an eyebrow as she looks down at her.

"Lancer, Berserker, escort this lady to her room already and make sure she is restrained." Saber ordered as she steps aside and removes a cigarette box and a lighter out from her pockets.

"Ja gnädige Frau!" Berserker said cheerfully as she gave Saber a salute.

Lancer grasped onto Yukari's arm. "Keep moving." He said to her. Berserker wraps her hands onto her other arm and the three turn around and walk their way to the girls' room.

"Rider, keep that stolen data safe with you and drive us out of here." Saber said to Rider as she takes out a cigarette from the box.

"Understood." Rider smiled before putting the flash drive into the pocket of her skirt. She then walks away and heads to the bridge.

"Archer, set up the conference. It's time for us to make our report to your father." Saber said to Archer.

"You got it, boss." Archer said before turning around and going over to the kitchen drawers. He slides open the windows, knowing that his boss is about to take a puff.

"This is the third time they tried stealing data from a military weapons company now." Assassin said to Saber as Archer removes a laptop and its adapter out from the drawer.

Saber narrows her eyes. "Just what exactly are they up to?" She muttered before placing the cigarette into her mouth and flips open the lid of her lighter.

\----

Yukari sat at the bottom of a double-decker bed and watch as Lancer finishes tying the ropes around her wrists.

"That should do it." Lancer said as he backs away from her. Yukari just stared at him and Berserker uneasily.

"Relax ma'am." Berserker said to Yukari with a mischievous smirk as she places her hands on the sides of her hip. "Just be glad that not everyone here is a disgusting male."

"What are you going to do to us now?" Yukari inquired.

"You mean you and Kodama?" Lancer said, scratching his head. "Well, once we're done talking to our superior, we'll meet up with him and our client and then we'll throw you two in jail."

"Jail?! What for?!" Yukari cried incredulously.

"Didn't you even remember what I said back at the ship? Kodama is wanted for stealing valuable data from our client and you are his accomplice."

"What valuable data?"

"Data that can endanger innocent lives if it falls into the wrong hands." Berserker said solemnly as she frowns. "Your company is Matou Industries, right?"

"How do you know?" Yukari asked.

"We have a long history with them. For many years, Matou Industries had been using their money and power to routinely get away with their crimes." Berserker explained. "And now, your partner, Mr. Kodama, was assigned by your company to steal valuable data from Caspian Corporation during your supposed business trip."

\----

Back in the main room, Archer sat in front of the laptop with Assassin and Saber standing behind him and staring at the screen with lighted-up cigarettes in their hands. On the screen, a man with messy black hair and black eyes is speaking directly to them through a video feed.

"Good work, all of you. I'll contact Mr. Harding right away. Meet us up at the Port of Long Beach. I'll send you the exact coordinates to your phones." The man said to the three.

"Understood, sir." Assassin said with a solemn nod.

"At the meantime, try interrogating the two criminals you've captured. Make them provide us some information about what exactly the folks at Matou Industries are up to." The man said.

"Yes, sir." Saber murmured before she and Assassin insert their cigarettes into their mouths.

The man then made a wan smile and waves his hand at Archer. "See you later, son." He said.

"Sure thing." Archer said as he nonchalantly waves back at his father. The man then turns off the video feed and Archer closes the laptop.

After blowing the smoke out of their mouths, Assassin and Saber turn to each other. "Miss Yukino seems very clueless though. Perhaps she was just dragged along. So we will have our best chances with Mr. Kodama." Assassin said.

Saber groans in frustration as she lowers her head. "If only this world isn't fucked up, Matou Industries could have been taken down long ago." She said.

"Boss. Something is coming our way." Archer said as he looks out the open window. Saber and Assassin turn their heads and they widen their eyes as they spot two large boats heading over to their yacht.

\----

"That's ridiculous! Neither my company nor Mr. Kodama would ever do that!" Yukari protested. "Matou Industries is a well-respected company back in my country! They manufactured security products that have kept innocent civilians safe and sound. They also provide jobs and generous patronages across Japan. So there's no way that the people who run my company are ruthless and corrupted!"

Lancer and Berserker turn their heads and stare at each other for a moment before they clutch their sides and burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?!" Yukari yelled angrily.

Lancer catches his breath and turns back to Yukari. "If only you knew, lady." He said.

"You think your company is so ostentatiously virtuous. But sadly, the bigger picture eludes you." Berserker added.

Suddenly, the door opens. Lancer and Berserker turn around and see Assassin standing at the doorway.

"Guys, we got company." Assassin said.

"Seriously?!" Lancer cried as he and Berserker widen their eyes.

"Get to the deck now!" Assassin yelled. The three rush out of the room, leaving Yukari behind.

Berserker turns around and glances at her. "We got some business to attend to right now, so make yourself comfy in the meantime." She gave a quick smirk to the older woman before closing the door and locking it with her key.

\----

"We got two large armed boats heading our way. The people on board are armed and armored." Saber said to her crew.

"You think they're mercenaries working for Matou Industries?" Lancer asked while holding up his AK-47 rifle.

"Highly possible, Chulainn." Saber said. "But right now, our main priority is to survive." She turns to Berserker, who is carrying her XM214 Microgun, and Archer, who armed himself with a sniper rifle and carrying an M16 rifle on his back. "Shirou, Illya, get to the top of the yacht."

"Got it." Illya smirked as she holds up her weapon while Shirou nods his head.

Saber turns back to Chulainn. "Chulainn, station at the right side of the deck."

"Sure thing." Lancer replied.

Finally, Saber turns to Assassin. "Ricky, you're with me." She said as she holds up her Glock 17 pistols.

"I got your back." Ricky said, holding up his .44 Magnum revolver. Saber then slightly tilts her head to the side and places a finger on her earpiece.

"Rin, we're ready. Head straight to the enemy boats."

\----

"You got it, Boss." Rin said to Saber while lying back on her chair with a safety belt strapped around her waist. "If it's a fight they want, we'll give them one they'll never forget."

After she removes her finger from her earpiece, Rin leans forward and firmly grabs onto the helm and throttle. She pushes down the throttle and drives the yacht over to their enemies.

\----

Meanwhile in the girls' room, Yukari is constantly slamming her body against the door, hoping to get it open.

After a few failed attempts, she grabs the doorknob with her hands and tries to turn it in vain.

But suddenly, she felt the knob turning by itself and she backs away. She heard the door being unlocked from the other side and it opens up, revealing Mr. Kodama with a lock pick in his hand.

"Kodama-sama!" Yukari said, smiling in relief. "How did you get out?"

"Thankfully, I had this in case of an emergency like this." Mr. Kodama said to his associate while holding up his lock pick. "Now come on, help has arrived."

"Really?" Yukari's eyes widened.

Kodama nodded before he unties the ropes around Yukari's wrists. He then explained as the two walk into the main room together, "Our Company has sent men to rescue us and take care of the kidnappers. Those thugs are fighting them right now, but there's no way they'll survive against an army. Now go. Join up with our rescuers and get yourself out of here."

"What about you, Kodama-sama?"

"I will join you later. I got some…things to take care of."

"Alright. But don't take too long." Yukari then turn around and run over to the stairs, making her way out of the interior of the yacht.

After her departure, Mr. Kodama turns to Illya's desk and sees a handgun placed on it. A smirk appears on his face as he goes over and grabs it. He then turned around and walks over to the door leading to the yacht's bridge.

\----

On one of the enemy boats, several masked men make their way to the bow and load up their rifles. They are all wearing black ski masks, military helmets and Kevlar vests. One masked man goes over to the turret and places his hands on the controls. However, as soon as he does so, a bullet shot through his helmet and forehead, killing him instantly and sending him falling to the floor.

The other masked men glance at the fallen mercenary in shock. They turn to the front and see Saber's yacht speeding towards them.

"Return fire now!" One of the men yelled before they hold up their rifles and fire at the yacht. On the other boat, the mercenary controlling the turret only manages to fire a few bullets before also getting shot in the forehead.

\----

Shirou quickly hides behind the barrier and reloads his sniper rifle after shooting down another mercenary.

"It's certainly great to have me around to create these armor-piercing rounds for all of us, eh?" Illya asked as she sat next to Shirou while holding onto her weapon tightly.

"Make the self-praising _after_ the fight, Illya." Shirou gave her a smirk. Illya giggled in response.

The mercenaries continue shooting at the yacht in vain as their bullets are deflected by its tough metallic plating. As Saber, Ricky, Chulainn, Shirou and Illya hid behind the barriers, Rin's teeth breaks out into a wide grin as the yacht is now only a few meters away from the enemy boats.

"Look out!" One of the mercenaries shouted. As Rin rams the yacht against both enemy boats with great force, the mercenaries lost their balance and drop their weapons. Rin then stops the yacht and it finds itself placed in between them.

"NOW!" Saber shouted. She and her team got out from their hiding spots and fire their weapons at their enemies. Some of them got shot in the back while the remaining mercenaries quickly pick up their rifles, get up and fire back at Saber and her team.

Saber and Ricky stood side by side and fire their pistols at the enemies on the left boat. Their eyes stare boldly to the front as they shot down every enemy in their visions with military precision.

Meanwhile, despite being the only person fighting against the mercenaries on the right boat, Chulainn fires his AK-47 rifle at them without any problem. One mercenary gets out from the control room of his boat and tries to fire his rifle at Chulainn, but he got shot in the chest by Shirou who is still hiding behind the barricade at the top of the yacht.

As Shirou reloads his sniper rifle, two mercenaries manage to get into the turrets of both boats and fire rapidly at the yacht.

"Take cover!" Saber yelled. She, Ricky, Shirou and Chulainn quickly hid behind the barriers and take cover from the incoming bullets.

As that is going on, Yukari opens the door and turns around. When she noticed her captors are taking cover from the heavy fire, she sees this as an opportunity to make her escape. She turns to the left enemy boat and waves her arms at the mercenaries.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" She shouted. As he sat behind the barricade, Ricky turns his head and widens his eyes in shock.

"YUKINO! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Ricky bellowed.

"I had it with you assholes! Kodama-sama and I are getting out of here while you guys can go straight to hell!" Yukari yelled at Ricky before turning back to the enemy boat.

"YUKINO, NO!" Ricky shouted at her, but she completely ignored him.

"GUYS! I'M WITH THE COMPANY! HELP ME!" Yukari yelled as she waves her arms again.

The turret operator briefly stops firing and turns to Miss Yukino. He then turns to a mercenary standing behind him and he shakes his head. The operator nods his head and aims the turret at Yukari.

Yukari instantly froze in place. Her jaw plummeted and her eyes widened in horror.

"GET DOWN!" Chulainn shouted. He charges over to Yukari and tackles her to the floor just before the operator fires the turret and the rain of the bullets barely misses the two by an inch.

When the turret on the right boat ran out of bullets, Illya finally comes out of her hiding spot and places a foot on top of the barrier. She aims her microgun at the turret operator on the left boat as he continued firing.

"You guys think you're soooo tough with your big ass turrets, huh?!" She shrieked with rage before pulling the trigger of her weapon. The barrel of her microgun began spinning and Illya rapidly fires several bullets at the left enemy boat, killing the turret operator and some other mercenaries in the process. She cackled maniacally as she delivers heavy damage to the boat.

Shirou gets out from his hiding spot and fires a shot at the turret operator on the right boat, killing him by shooting through his forehead.

Chulainn gets up from Yukari and looks down at her. "You okay?" He asked. Yukari tried to speak as she stared back at Chulainn in shock and horror.

"I-I-I don't g-get it." She stammered. "W-w-why did they shoot at me?"

"Probably because you're a lower class employee, but what do you expect?! Matou Industries never cared for unimportant people like you!" Chulainn scolded.

"What?" Yukari said barely above a whisper.

\----

Back inside the yacht, Mr. Kodama quietly opens the door and enters the bridge. He sees Rin sitting on the chair and still facing the front.

As a grin appears on his face, he holds up the handgun he took from Illya's desk and carefully walks over to her.

Then, he stops and looked surprised as Rin lets out a sigh.

"You really think I can't tell that someone is approaching me from behind, don't you?" Rin said as she casually takes off her safety belt and gets up from her chair. She stood in front of Mr. Kodama with her arms folded.

Mr. Kodama growls as he aims the handgun at Rin. "Hand over the flash drive or I'll shoot you!" He yelled threateningly.

"Over my dead body." Rin said flatly.

"Even better." Mr. Kodama smirked. He then pulls the trigger of the handgun. However, much to his surprise and bewilderment, instead of firing a bullet, a line of water squirts out from the muzzle and splashes onto Rin's blouse.

After seeing her clothes getting soaked, she looks back up at Mr. Kodama with her eyes narrowed.

"You also seriously think that Berserker would leave a real gun behind on her desk. Do you treat all of your enemies as idiots?" She said as one of her brows is now twitching.

Mr. Kodama drops the gun and could only let out a brief cry of terror before Rin dashes over to him and delivers a massive punch against his cheek.

\----

While Illya is busy firing at the left enemy boat, three surviving mercenaries from the other boat boarded onto the yacht. Ricky and Saber look up and quickly run over to them. As soon as the mercenaries stop and hold up their rifles, Ricky and Saber already reached them.

Ricky's fist collided against the first mercenary's face, sending him stumbling to the floor. Saber slides through the floor, grabs the second mercenary by his ankle and trips him. The third mercenary tries to fire at Saber but Ricky quickly turns to him and punches him across his left cheek. Saber gets up and punches him in the gut, sending him falling and kneeling on the floor in pain. She quickly draws out one of her pistols and shoots him in the head, killing him instantly.

The second mercenary rolls over and draws out his machete. He gets up and tries to swing his weapon at Saber but Ricky quickly grabs his wrist and the two stayed at a stalemate, trying to overpower each other. But it didn't take long for Ricky to give a sharp downward twist to the mercenary's arm, causing him to widen his eyes and scream in pain. He notices the tip of his machete is aiming at the left side of his chest. Ricky flashes a quick smirk at him before removing his right hand from the mercenary's wrist and pushes the machete through his chest. The mercenary gasped in pain before his eyes roll back and his head slump to the side. Ricky then kicks his lifeless body to the floor.

Saber turns around and sees the first mercenary recovering. He tries to gets up but Saber quickly walks over to him and stomps her foot onto his chest, pinning him onto the floor. She aims her pistol directly at his forehead and kneels down while the mercenary stares back at her in horror.

"You are going to give me some answers." She said icily to him, just as the left boat exploded from the heavy damage that Illya had delivered on it.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Illya laughed triumphantly as she throws back her head. "Who's next, huh?! Come on! Who?!"

As Shirou walks over to Ricky, he takes out a grenade from his pocket and tosses it to him who catches it firmly with his hand.

"Mind doing the honors?" Shirou asked.

"Sure." Ricky nods his head with a smirk before removing the safety pin and tosses the grenade over to the remaining enemy boat. The grenade landed near the control room and when it exploded, the boat blows up with it.

Saber fires a bullet at the mercenary's forehead after she is done 'conversing' with him. She gets up and places her finger against her earpiece. "It's over. Drive us out of here." She said.

"Got it." Rin replied.

"Awww, it's over?" Illya whined as she lowers her weapon and her sense of overwhelming joy and triumphant faded. "I only blew up one boat during all of this."

As the yacht reversed, Saber turns around and faces Ricky and Shirou. Chulainn goes over to them while dragging Yukari by the back of her collar and placing the tip of his rifle against her shoulder.

"Assassin, Archer, get rid of these corpses on my boat." Saber said to Ricky and Shirou as she gently pushes aside some strands of hair that were in front of her eyes. She then turns to Yukari and gave her an intense glare, causing her to cringe. "As for you, we need to talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of the first chapter. I hope everyone enjoys reading this and stay tune for the second chapter which will be posted tomorrow.
> 
> Also, some important notes. Ricky Blade is actually an original character of mine. I know there are people who are not used to seeing OCs in stories but I hope you'll still give him a chance.
> 
> Also, Yukari Yukino is actually a character from _The Garden of Words_ , a film made by Makoto Shinkai. She later had a cameo in another Shinkai film, _Your Name_. Not to confuse anyone, her appearance in this story takes place after _Your Name_ , **not** _The Garden of Words._
> 
> Finally, Arturia in this story is dressed in her black suit outfit from _Fate/Zero_ while Chulainn is dressed in his green casual clothing from _Fate/Hollow Ataraxia._


	2. Welcome to the Losers, Part 2

Saber held onto Yukari's collar of her shirt and violently slams her onto the dining table. She pulls her up and Yukari trembled as she comes face-to-face with a furious-looking Saber.

"You called these men to come over here and kill us, didn't you, fucker?!" Saber roared right in front of her face.

"Saber, calm down!" Ricky cried as he and Rin grab Saber by her arms, but the leader held tightly onto the collar of Yukari's shirt.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I swear!" Yukari cried with her eyes widened, staring back at Saber with fear for her life.

"Don't bullshit me! I talked to one of the mercenaries we fought and he said that _you_ called them!"

"Me?!" Yukari said incredulously.

"Yes, you swine!" Saber snarled.

"But I didn't-"

"SHUT UP!"

"Saber please! Calm down!" Ricky yelled.

"Why the fuck should I calm down?! This woman risked our lives!" Saber shouted furiously at him.

"Saber, listen! I was with her the whole day and I never see her took out any sort of device for communication whatsoever."

"What about you two?!" Saber barked as she turns her head to her left and stares at Chulainn and Illya. "Did she do anything suspicious while you guys were tying her up?!"

"We didn't see her taking out any sort of device too." Chulainn replied as he and Illya shake their heads.

"She was as obedient to us as a dog." Illya added merrily, holding up a finger in the air.

Saber gazes at the floor. "Then maybe…" Suddenly, she gasps and widens her eyes.

\----

Mr. Kodama's eyes squinted as the front metal door of his cell opened and rays of light shine through the small openings of the metal bars.

Ricky holds up his revolver and aims at the prisoner with Saber, Yukari and the others standing behind him.

"Tell us the truth, Mr. Kodama. Are you the one who contact your company to send mercenaries here?" Ricky said.

"I…" Mr. Kodama trembled in fear as he remained sitting on the metal floor. "I don't know what you're-"

**_BANG!_ **

Mr. Kodama squealed in terror as Ricky fires a shot. The bullet barely misses his head by an inch and hits the wall behind him.

"Stop it!" Yukari cried in horror as she tries to step forward, but Chulainn and Shirou restrained her.

"Don't test my patience, Mr. Kodama." Saber said icily as she wraps her fingers around the metal bars. "I am not in a good mood right now."

Mr. Kodama takes a deep breath and nods his head. "Alright." He said. "Yes. It's true. I was the one who contacted my company to send men to rescue me."

"But I'm sure he did it because he was scared!" Yukari protested to Saber.

"Will you just shut up?" Saber turns to Yukari and gave her a cold glare.

"How the hell did you contact your company?" Ricky said, still aiming his revolver at their prisoner.

"Back on the ship, before you guys found me, I made a phone call to Mr. Matou, telling him that I have been captured. I know you guys are after me because of the data I stole from Caspian Corporation so I requested Mr. Matou to not only sent mercenaries to come after you but also track down your boat signal." Kodama's explanation made everyone present widen their eyes and drop their jaws in shock. But the one who is shocked the most was Yukari.

"What?" Saber uttered under her breath.

"That's right. You guys may have confiscated my phone, but what you guys didn't know is that when you brought me into your boat, even when it's locked, my company phone was hacking into your boat servers, helping to track your location to aid my company's mercenaries to hunt you all down and rescue me. But if they were to fail their mission however, Miss Yukino here will be held responsible for their failures. You may have won this round, but as long as my company is still able to track down your boat signal, they will just keep sending more mercenaries to kill you all." Kodama said.

"Kodama-sama…" Yukari tried to say the words out of her mouth. "Y-y-you actually did steal important data from Caspian Corporation?"

"Yes, Yukino. I did." Kodama said to her with his eyes narrowed.

"Why?!" Yukari cried incredulously. "How could you do something like this?! I always thought you were one of the nicest people I've ever met and worked alongside with! I was glad that you were the first person I've met when I first joined Matou Industries and you cared for me when I was feeling upset over the loss of my previous job as a teacher…but now, I can't believe you would commit something illegal! Why, Kodama-sama?! I trusted and admired you!"

Kodama stares at Yukari for a few moments before he started to laugh. Yukari watch in horror as her higher-up throws his head back and cackled evilly.

"Oh Yukino…" Kodama said as he looks back at his co-worker with a wide grin now appearing on his face. "I can't believe you are such a daft fool for the last three years."

Tears instantly formed in Yukari's eyes when she felt her heart had been emotionally stabbed by Kodama's words. "I cared for you? Give me a fucking break. Low-ranking employees like you are nothing but grunts to us, higher-ups at Matou Industries. Those men that I've sent over here, you think they came to rescue the both of us? Hahaha, no! They were here to rescue only me, because I'm more important to Mr. Matou and not you! I only brought you along on our trip to Caspian Corporation headquarters because you are just leverage for me in case something like this ever happens. Because to everyone's eyes, you are nothing but a pathetic and disposable piece of shit!"

As Kodama laughed again, Yukari grits her teeth as hot tears are now freely rolling down her cheeks. She couldn't believe what she is hearing from the man she used to admire right now.

"Aww, what's wrong? Are you crying?" Kodama mocked with a sick grin on his face. "Crying because I'm being mean to you right now? That's right! Cry! Because that's all you're really good for, you slut-"

**_BANG!_ **

Yukari gasps and widens her eyes as Saber fires a bullet through Kodama's chest. Kodama gasped as he falls to the floor and lands on his back.

"Shut the fuck up, asshole." Saber muttered as she lowers her Glock.

Kodama gurgled in pain and shook violently on the floor for a few seconds before finally, his body stops moving and his head slumps to the side. As his now lifeless body lies still, a pool of blood is formed behind his back.

Saber puts away her pistol and turns to Yukari. "It's alright, Miss Yukino." She said softly as she gently places her hand on her shoulder. "At least be glad you're now proven innocent."

She turns to Ricky and Rin. "Assassin, Rider, dispose his body." She ordered them. The two men nod their heads as Saber turns to Shirou and Illya. "Archer, Berserker, clean up the cell."

Shirou nodded as he releases his grip around Yukari's arm.

"Aye!" Illya saluted before she and Shirou walk away to grab the required cleaning equipment.

"Lancer, take Miss Yukino back to the room." Saber instructed Chulainn.

"Got it." Chulainn said as he removes the cell keys from his pocket. He tosses them to Rin who catches it. As Rin proceeds to unlock the cell doors, Chulainn escorts Yukari to the girls' room.

\----

A few minutes later, Shirou and Illya are now cleaning off the blood around the cell while Ricky and Rin are at the port, carrying Mr. Kodama's lifeless body.

As they stood right behind the barricade, they swing the corpse and toss it overboard. The body splashes into the water below. Ricky and Rin casually wipe their hands as Saber approached them while lighting up the cigarette through her lips.

"Rin, can you try eliminating the tracking signal in our boat's servers?" Saber said as she closes the lid of her lighter and puts it away.

"I'll try." Rin said as she places her hands on both sides of her hip. "Hopefully it won't take a long time for me to track it down. But even after I find and eliminate it, I don't have the authorization to reset our boat servers. Only Shirou's dad does."

"Then I guess we better contact Kiritsugu about our current situation." Saber turns to the ocean and looks skyward. "We have to quickly meet up with him so that he and his men can completely reset the servers for us." She removes the cigarette from her mouth and blows out the smoke. Then, she narrows her eyes and stomps her foot as she muttered.

"Fucking god damn shit."

\----

A bald and muscular man, dressed in a black bandana around his head, black long-sleeved jacket, black gloves, dark grey pants and black boots, is lying back on his chair with his legs placed above the desk in front of him and smoking a cigarette. The most distinguishable feature on his face is a long scar going through the top of the left side of his forehead and down to the bottom of his left cheek. When his desk phone rang, he removes the cigarette from his mouth, gets up and places his feet down on the floor. He picks up the phone and answers it.

He blows out the smoke from his mouth before asking, "Hello?"

"Gabriel Rorke, we got a job for you." Kirei said.

"What is it now, Mr. Kotomine?"

"We sent a group of men earlier to rescue Mr. Kodama and retrieve a flash drive containing valuable data to us, but they have not returned or made any sort of contact for the last four hours. We presumed that they are dead, so it looks like our enemies are tougher than we thought. So now, it's up to you to deal with them. We'll send you their exact current location. Find Mr. Kodama, retrieve the flash drive and kill these thugs."

An evil smirk takes form on Rorke's face. "You got it, boss. I'll rip these thugs a new asshole!"

After placing down his desk phone, a message appears on his smartphone. He picks it up and opens his message, showing a map that shows the current distance between his ship and his target. He puts down his smartphone on his desk and picks up his radio.

"Boys, turn this ship at two o'clock. We got some cold, hard cash to make."

\----

As night falls, Shirou is carefully cutting a celery stick into many tiny bits with a kitchen knife. He wears a black apron over his body while he does his cooking.

Meanwhile, Rin is sitting at the right end of the dining table, working on the laptop. She finally tracks down Kodama's tracking signal and is now in the process of eliminating it. Unfortunately, even eliminating the threat won't stop their enemies from finding their current location.

Saber is sitting at the other end, resting her arms on the table and watching Rin doing her work while Chulainn is sitting between them, drinking a can of beer.

Illya walks out of the bathroom and enters the main room. She sighs as she stretches out her arms.

"Hey Shirou, what are we having for dinner tonight?" She asked wearily.

"Tomato soup." Shirou replied as he stops his cutting and turns to the girl.

"Ugh, again?!" Illya groans in frustration as her arms drooped at her sides.

"I could have make spaghetti bolognaise, but we ran out of pasta. Sorry." He smiled apologetically at her.

Illya growls as she turns to the stairs. She stomps her feet as she walks and Ricky moves aside as she angrily walks past him.

"Chillax, Fraulein." Ricky said before turning back to his front and enters the main room. As he walks over to the refrigerator, Saber turns to Ricky.

"Ricky, don't mind handing a bottle of water to Miss Yukino in our room?" Saber said.

"Sure thing, Boss." Ricky replied as he opens the fridge.

"Go easy on her. She might still be feeling traumatized over what had happened today." Rin added while her eyes are still fixated at the laptop in front of her.

"Oh? Everybody here is having sympathy for her now?" Ricky said after grabbing two bottles of mineral water and closing the fridge.

"Keep your nose in place, Ricky." Saber deadpanned. Lancer places the room keys on the table and slides them over to Ricky as he turns around.

"Sure do." Ricky said to her with a smirk before grabbing the keys.

He walks past everyone present at the dining table and heads over to the girls' room. He unlocks the door and slowly entered.

"Miss Yukino, would you like…to…" Ricky trails off with his mouth agape slightly as he sees Yukari sitting on the bottom bed, sobbing in despair and inconsolable grief. He stood there and stared wordlessly at her as she wipes the tears that are uncontrollably pouring out from her eyes.

Yukari couldn't believe the man she had worked alongside with and admired for three years was actually nothing but a monster. Her years working at Matou Industries have been for nothing. All of her thoughts about Mr. Kodama are now alienated and she is grimly reminded of the day she had lost her job as a teacher all over again.

"Hey…" Ricky whispered, attempting to comfort her. "What's the matter?" He slowly enters the room and closes the door behind him. He turns back to Yukari who looks up at him with puffy red eyes and took a hard gulp.

"I-I-I…I really am the m-m-most pathetic person in the world right now…" Yukari struggled to say between her sobs. "F-f-f-first my hometown was destroyed…t-then, I was publicly humiliated and lost my job as a teacher…a-a-and now, I learnt the person whom I admired actually sees me as a slut…I just…I…"

Having lost her ability to speak, Yukari buries her face into her hands and continued sobbing. Ricky lets out a sigh before he sits next to her.

"Hey, come on. Don't cry." Ricky gently places his hand on Yukari's back. He rubs her back until she eventually brought her sobbing to a halt. After wiping off the tears from her eyes and cheeks, Yukari turns to Ricky who stares back at her with a frown.

"Seriously ma'am? You think you're the most pathetic person in the world?" Ricky arches an eyebrow. He removes his hand from her back and turns his vision to the floor. "When I was young, I had dreams of being an Olympic athlete. I love swimming throughout my youth and I always hope one day, I can become a world-class swimmer and make my country proud." He lets out a sigh as his fingers curled up into tight fists. "But my dreams were dashed when my father passed away. And you know what happens after he died? My mother went blooming mental. She remarried herself to a crazy psycho stepdad who only sees my mom as a blown-up sex doll and never sees me as his son. He constantly abuses me and my mum until she really does go mentally insane. He refuses to pay anything for us until eventually I got expelled because my parents stopped paying for my school fees. And it's because of that asshole; I ended up being a mercenary so that I can support myself and my mom. I never wanted to become a mercenary, and I wish I never had to. But I can't."

Yukari stared wordlessly back at Ricky as he paused for a moment. After regaining his composure, he looks back at Yukari and continued, "But you? You on the other hand got to be a teacher and a white-collar worker. Those are _actual_ jobs rather than the shit one I'm doing right now. So what the hell right do you have to say that you are more pathetic than me?"

Yukari went silent for a moment to contemplate what Ricky had said to her. She then lowers her head with shame and sorrow. Ricky gave her a pat on her thigh before handing her a bottle of water.

\----

Rin places the laptop back into the drawer while Shirou places six stainless steel bowls of tomato soup onto the dining table. Saber, Chulainn and Illya grab their bowls just as Rin returns back to the table and sat on her own chair.

Shirou looks up and sees Ricky stepping out of the room with Yukari. They both enter the main room with Ricky holding onto Yukari's hand.

"Don't mind if she joins us for dinner too?" Ricky inquired everyone present at the dining table.

"Sure, go ahead." Saber shrugged.

"Luckily we have some leftover soup. I'll get another bowl for her." Shirou smiled. As he turns around and grabs a spare bowl, Illya gets up and goes over to her desk to grab her chair. She places it at the dining table and next to Ricky's chair. She gestures Yukari to sit down. Yukari gave her a wan smile and bows her head in gratitude before she sat down.

Ricky sat next to her on her left and he grabs his own bowl of soup. As Illya goes back to the other side of the table and sat back down on her own chair, Shirou places a bowl of soup in front of Yukari. The two smile at each other before Shirou sits down between Illya and Rin.

Saber, who sat between Chulainn and Ricky, leans forward and picks up her spoon. "Let's eat." She said to everyone.

Shirou, Rin and Yukari clasp their hands together and said in unison, "Itadakimasu."

Everyone present in the room pick up their own spoons and began drinking their soup.

"It tastes good." Yukari commented.

"Arigatou. I'm glad you like my cooking." Shirou smiled at her. "It sure is nice to have another Japanese here in our presence, eh Rin?"

"You mean another person who is 100 percent Japanese, right? Remember, I'm one-third English American." Rin said to him. Shirou chuckled.

Saber clears her throat, getting everyone's attention. She turns to Miss Yukino and said calmly, "Yukari Yukino, on behalf of everyone here, especially myself, we're sorry for the hostile behavior we displayed to you earlier and we really wish you could forgive us and start over our relationships." She frowns as she tries her best to suppress her blushing.

Yukino then gave Saber the widest smile she has ever made since stepping into the yacht. "I forgive you, ma'am." She bows her head. "And thank you…for your honest apology."

"So now that we are starting over our relationships with Miss Yukino, can we introduce ourselves to her?" Ricky asked Saber.

"Of course we can." Saber replied.

Ricky puts down his spoon and turns to Yukari. "Hello Miss Yukino, my nickname is Assassin." He greeted her as he extends out his hand. "But my real name is Ricky Blade. My hometown is London, England."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Blade." Yukari said as she grabs his hand and they both shook. "My name is Yukari Yukino. My hometown is Itomori, located in the Japanese Prefecture of Gifu, but I later moved to Tokyo."

"Itomori?" Chulainn said as everybody in the room widens their eyes. "Isn't that the town that was destroyed by Comet Tiamat in 2013?"

"Yes. I was one of the many survivors." Yukari turns to Chulainn. She chuckled as she strokes her hair. "And I'm saying as if there were fatalities, but there weren't."

"Yeah, it's miraculous that not a single person died that day." Saber said. "And tin-foiled hat wearing Illya here still thinks there's some sort of conspiracy behind it."

"I'm telling you guys!" Illya snapped, waving her hands in the air frantically. "The ghost of the town's mayor went back to the past to warn his living self about the future! Why else would the mayor have been able to evacuate everyone before the comet struck, huh?!"

"Hahaha, yeah. That would have been very interesting. What a shame." Rin deadpanned as she rolls her eyes with her arms folded. Yukari couldn't help but laugh at their ongoing conversation. The two then turn and smile at each other.

"I'm Rin Tohsaka and I'm from Los Angeles, California." Rin said as she and Yukari shook hands. "My nickname in this group is Rider because heh, guess why." She gestures to the door to the yacht's bridge.

Yukari then turns to Shirou, who smiled at her and places his hand on his chest. "Konichiwa, Yukino-san. My name is Shirou Emiya. My nickname is Archer and I'm from Yokohama, Japan." He solemnly bows his head down to her. Yukari bows back to him.

Illya stood up from her chair and bows dramatically to Yukari as she picks up the sides of her skirt. "Illyasviel von Einzbern at your service. But you can just refer me as Illya. My nickname is Berserker and I hail from Leipzig, Germany."

Yukari chuckled as she watched Illya sits back down on her chair. Chulainn leans forward and extends out his hand to Yukari. "Nice to meet you, Miss Yukino. I'm Cu Chulainn and I'm from Dublin, Ireland. My nickname that's given to me by our boss is Lancer."

"If his real name confuses you, you can refer him as Cuchu if you want." Ricky said to Yukari as she shakes Chulainn's hand.

"You know I hate that, right?" Chulainn said irritably as he stares at Ricky in annoyance. Yukari laughed again before turning to Saber.

"And finally, my name is Arturia Pendragon. My nickname is Saber and my hometown is also London, England." Saber said, placing her hand on her chest. She extends out her hand to Yukari.

"It's nice to meet all of you." Yukari said before grabbing Saber's hand and shakes it.

Just as Saber smiled back at Yukari, a huge blast interrupted the moment. The impact rocked the yacht to the side so hard that everybody cry as Saber, Ricky, Yukari and Rin fall off their chairs while Shirou, Illya and Chulainn slam onto the table. Their bowls also fell off the dining table and its contents spill onto the metal floor.

Ricky looks down and sees his shirt stained by his own soup. "Aw, you're fucking kidding me!" He yelled in annoyance.

"What the hell just happened?" Chulainn shouted.

Illya gets up from her seat and rushes over to the window. She slides it open, pokes her head out and turns to her left. She widens her eyes and shouted, "Heilige Scheiße!"

"What?" Rin asked, not liking Illya's tone of voice at all.

"It's a god damn destroyer!" Illya shrieked as she turned around.

\----

As he stood in the middle of the control room of his ship, Rorke cackled maniacally as he delightfully watched the yacht took a hit from one of his recently-launched missiles with his binoculars.

"Let's see these dead meats try to get their way out of this!" Rorke said with a smirk as he lowers his binoculars. He turns to the mercenary sitting behind the cannon controls. "Fire again!"

The mercenary obliged and pulls down the throttle.

\----

"Yeah, it is a god damn destroyer." Rin muttered under her breath as she and the others stare at Rorke's large metal gray ship that looked five times the size of their yacht stationed in the distance. Everyone is currently in the yacht's bridge with Rin sitting at the driver's seat and Ricky, Saber, Chulainn, Shirou, Illya and Yukari standing closely behind her.

"Looks like our friends at Matou Industries are becoming more desperate in getting rid of us." Saber said.

Rin wraps one hand around the helm tightly and the other on the throttle. "HANG ON!" She pushes down the throttle and makes a sharp turn with the helm. This causes the yacht to make a full circular turn, desperately escaping from Rorke's ship before he fires another blast.

The main cannon on Rorke's ship made a slight adjustment to the right, aiming directly at the back of the yacht.

\----

"Hahaha! Damn cowards, trying to escape from me, eh?! I don't think so." Rorke said, watching the yacht sailing away from his ship with his binoculars.

"Cannon ready, sir." The mercenary said.

"FIRE!" Rorke bellowed.

\----

The cannon fired another missile. The missile directly lands right behind the back of the yacht and it flips upwards by the huge strong waves of water.

Everyone in the yacht scream as the impact causes them except Rin to fall forward. The yacht then falls back in place, making everyone back away from Rin's seat as they try to catch their balance.

"DRIVE FASTER!" Saber shouted at Rin.

"TRYING!" Rin yelled back, stepping on the gas pedal hard. Despite the yacht driving at its fastest; Rorke's ship is still trailing after it from behind at a considerable amount of distance.

Saber stares at the small monitor at the right side of the controls, clearly showing that the enemy ship is still behind and chasing them.

"Is there anything this boat can do to fight back?" Yukari inquired.

"Unfortunately no. This yacht ain't a warship." Ricky replied.

"Well, at least you guys must have something explosive on this boat."

"We got six propane tanks in the store room which we use to fill up the gas for our boat." Shirou said.

"Why are you asking these questions?" Saber curiously asked Yukari.

"Because we simply can't keep running away. No matter what, that ship is still going to be on our tail!" Yukari said.

"So what do you suggest?" Saber inquired.

Yukari lets out a sigh before she cups her chin, closes her eyes and takes a moment to think. Chulainn and Ricky turn to each other and the latter shrugs his shoulders.

After twenty seconds of thinking, Yukari opens her eyes and turns to the two men. "Are you two and Shirou strong enough to carry all six tanks?"

"We'll try." Chulainn said.

"Good. I want you all to take out the tanks from the store room, wrap them up together and carry them to the void deck. Then, I want Rin to drive towards the enemy ship." Yukari said.

"What?" Rin said incredulously as she turns her head to Yukari. The older woman turns to the driver and nods her head.

"It sounds crazy and we only got one shot at this. But I want all of us to throw the tanks right into the control room of that ship. Then, we'll be able to get out of this mess alive." Yukari said.

"What do you say, Boss?" Ricky turned to Saber. "It might work."

Saber closes her eyes as she removes her cigarette box and lighter from her pockets. She takes out the last remaining cigarette from the box and inserts it into her mouth. She then flips open her lighter and lights up the cigarette. After putting away her lighter, she inhales the contents and removes her cigarette. Right after she blows out the smoke out of her mouth, her eyes snapped open and her brows furrowed. She crashes the empty box that is still in her hand, throws the cigarette onto the floor and stomps on it. She lifts her head up, swings her other hand horizontally and shouts at the top of her lungs.

"LET'S SEND THESE FUCKERS TO KINGDOM COME!"

"YEEEAAAHHH!" The others shouted as they pump their fists into the air.

\----

"The next cannon is ready, sir." The mercenary said to Rorke.

"THEN FIRE AGAIN!" Rorke shouted. "It's time for these chickens to die already!"

\----

Rorke's ship then fires another missile and it heads straight towards the back of the yacht. Rin sees the incoming missile on her monitor and she swiftly turns the yacht to left. The missile barely misses the yacht as it lands into the water, but the impact sends the yacht rocking to the side.

Meanwhile at the store room, Chulainn, Ricky and Shirou yell as the latter two tipped over and momentarily lost their balance. Chulainn remained sitting on the floor as his arms are tightly wrapped around the propane tanks which are tied with ropes.

"These goddamn warships!" Chulainn shouted, now feeling extremely ticked off.

As Ricky and Shirou regain their balance, the door opened. Everyone turned to see Illya standing at the doorway.

"Are you guys done tying the tanks together?" Illya asked.

"Aye." Ricky said as he, Chulainn and Shirou nod their heads.

"Good." Illya grins devilishly as she holds up a remote, a proximity mine and a roll of masking tape. "Because it's time for me to add something extra special to it."

\----

After Illya is done adding her mine onto the tanks, she and the three men carry them out of the store room and enter the dining area where Saber and Yukari are waiting for them.

"Come on!" Saber gestured them to follow her and Yukari. Ricky, Shirou, Chulainn and Illya hastily carry the tank over and they follow their leader and Yukari up the stairs.

As they step outside, Saber places her finger onto her earpiece. "Rin, we're outside. It's time to turn this boat around."

"With pleasure." Rin replied before hanging up her earpiece. She then swiftly turns the helm, making another full circular turn.

Ricky, Saber, Shirou, Chulainn, Yukari and Illya place their tanks down and hold onto the barricades as the yacht makes its turn.

When the yacht finds itself facing the enemy ship, Rin drives straight towards it. She then makes a slight turn to the right before she sets the yacht to auto-pilot mode and dashes her way out of the bridge.

\----

"Sir!" The mercenary controlling the ship's helm and radar yelled to Rorke. "The enemy boat, it's…"

"What?!" Rorke barked.

"It's turning and heading straight towards us!" The mercenary replied.

Rorke grins like a shark as he turns to the front. Sure enough, he sees the yacht sailing straight towards his ship. "I guess our target has finally decided to surrender and commit suicide." He turns to the mercenary controlling the ship's cannon. "Fire at them one more time. The next one should be their last."

"Yes sir!" The mercenary said before pushing down the throttle.

\----

Rin runs over to the port where the others are waiting for her. They all turn to the enemy ship and take their deep breaths. They know they only have one shot at this. If they were to miss, then this will be their final moments together.

"We're gonna make it, right?" Ricky asked Saber.

The blonde-haired woman turned to her second-in-command and smiled tenderly. "Yeah." She nodded before she and Ricky bump their fists together. She turns back to the enemy ship just as their yacht is now at a considerably near distance between each other.

"NOW!" She ordered. Everybody gathered around the wrapped tanks and they all groan heavily as they carry them up together and place them on their shoulders.

\----

"Missile ready!" The mercenary said.

"FIRE!" Rorke shouted.

\----

"GOOOO!" Saber howled. As soon as the yacht reaches near the left front hull of Rorke's ship, she and her team yell as they use all their strength to run over to the very front of their boat and toss the tanks over to the front window of the control room.

Before the mercenary could fire the next missile, the tanks smash through the glass windows and for a brief moment, Rorke widens his eyes with his mouth agape with horror right before they collided against his face, breaking his nose and teeth in the process.

\----

As the yacht sails past the ship, Ricky, Saber, Chulainn, Shirou, Rin, Illya and Yukari make their widest smiles and hold up their middle fingers at the control room as the white-haired girl holds up her remote.

"Have a blast, motherfuckers." Illya uttered right before pressing the big red button on her remote.

**_BBOOOOOOOOMMMM!_ **

The control room of Rorke's ship exploded. Everybody watch the spectacle they have created in awe as their speeding yacht sails past the now immobilized destroyer.

They continued staring at the burning ship until it is completely out of their sights. The seven let out their sighs of relief before turning to each other.

Suddenly, they all laughed triumphantly and gave each other pats on the backs.

"Well, this has certainly been one eventful night we'll be cherishing inside our minds for a long time, eh?" Chulainn smiled as he places his hands on the sides of his hip.

Ricky and Saber smiled at each other and said in unison as they nod their heads, "Aye."

\----

**_Port of Long Beach, California, United States_ **

By the time they finally arrived at their meeting spot, the sun has risen in the sky. After Rin safely parks their yacht next to the side of the port, several men dressed in black suits enter the boat to repair the damages and reset the servers.

While that is going on, Saber and her team stood at the docks in front of Kiritsugu and a middle-aged man with short blonde hair and wears glasses, brown suit, brown pants and black shoes.

"Here you go, Mr. Harding. Your company's data has been returned back to you, safe and sound." Kiritsugu said as he hands the flash drive over to their client.

"Thank you very much." Mr. Harding said with a wan smile as he takes the flash drive from Kiritsugu's hand. He turns to Saber and her team, who all look equally worn out after last night's encounter with Rorke's ship. "On behalf of Caspian Corporation, I thank you all for not only returning back our valuable data, but also saving countless innocent lives. Who knows what horrible actions Matou Industries could have done if they had gotten hold of this."

"Speaking of Matou Industries, you might want to not only cut ties with them but also relocate your headquarters somewhere else. I heard the CEO of Matou Industries doesn't take kindly to any sort of failure his company makes. And trust me; tightening cyber security won't be enough." Kiritsugu said with his arms folded.

"Right." Mr. Harding gave a solemn nod as he inserts the flash drive into the pocket of his pants. "The board and I will take your advice to consideration." He turns around and walks his way back to his limousine where an assistant is standing next to the open door. The assistant bows his head as Mr. Harding enters the back of his limo. He closes the door and makes his way to the driver's seat. He gets into the car and drives off.

Kiritsugu turned to Saber. "You know, you should have kept Mr. Kodama alive. We could have interrogated him further and handed him to the authorities."

Saber snorted with her hands stuffed in her pockets. "So what? Even if we handed him to the authorities, Matou Industries would either hire sleazy lawyers or bribe any corrupt police officers to get Mr. Kodama out of the hands of Justice. That's just how this fucked up world operates."

"I understand your past with the Justice system, Saber. But keep in mind, not everyone in this organization shares the same sentiment as you." Kiritsugu said.

A woman with shoulder-length black hair and dressed in a black suit, black pants and black shoes walks over to Saber and her team from behind.

"Your boat servers have been reset. Here's your new Wi-Fi password." The woman said as she hands Saber a piece of paper.

Saber takes the paper and glances at the letters and numbers before folding it and putting it into her suit's pocket. "Thank you Maiya." She said to the woman. Maiya bows her head before walking over to Kiritsugu's side.

"Well then, I guess our job here is done. See you all again soon." Kiritsugu waves his hand nonchalantly at Saber and her team before he and Maiya turn around and make their departure. The other men in black suits also step out of the boat and follow the two from behind.

Shirou sighed before briefly waving his hand back at his father. "Goodbye, dad." He mumbled.

Saber turns to Yukari. "Well, Miss Yukino. I gotta admit, if it wasn't for your quick thinking last night, we never would have survived and succeeded in our mission."

"Yeah." Ricky added with a smirk. "You saved our lives, and we thank you." Yukari glances at Chulainn, Shirou, Rin and Illya who all smiled back at her as well.

"But now, our work here is done. You're a free woman now, so you can just make your own way home from here. It's been nice knowing, Miss Yukino." Saber said.

But just as she turned, Yukari spoke up. "Actually…"

Saber stops and turns back to Yukari. The others widen their eyes in surprise. After getting everyone's attention, a tender smile plasters across Yukari's face.

"I'm thinking of staying with you guys a little longer. I mean, I've technically lost my job with Matou Industries and I really need a new one. So…do you guys have room for one more on your boat?" Yukari inquired.

Saber stared wordlessly at Yukari for a moment before her lips form into a smirk. She removes her hand from her pocket and extends it out to Yukari.

"Welcome to the team…Caster."

Yukari smiled back at her and grabs her hand. As they shook, Ricky, Chulainn, Shirou, Rin and Illya smile as well.

"Well…" Ricky said as he places his hand on the back of his head. "Guess we're gonna need an extra chair and bed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the story for now. I would like to continue writing this story after I've posted the first few chapters of my next main story _So You Want To Be A Fantasy Hero?_ which will be coming out next month. I hope you all enjoy the story so far, leave a review and stay tune for more in the future!


	3. San Diego

_**San Diego, California, United States** _

A man dressed in a black tank top, black pants and black shoes, walks through the vast and nearly deserted storage room of an abandoned warehouse. His footsteps echo throughout the room as he walked. He strolls over to the end of the room where two men are storing large bags of heroin into a wooden crate.

One of them is a brown-haired man who wears a light beige golfing hat, a pink polo shirt, light beige pants and black shoes. The other is an obese black-haired man, who wears glasses, a green cap, yellow shirt, green pants and brown shoes.

The tank top-wearing man stood behind the two and watches them put the last few bags into the crate. The obese man then places the lid on top of it when they have finished their task.

"We're done, boss." The brown-haired man said, turning to the man standing behind them.

"Good. Everything's going according to the plan." The tank top-wearing man said with an evil smirk.

The obese man chuckled as he carries the crate up and walks over to a corner where several piles of similar looking wooden crates are placed and stacked on top of each other.

\-----

Yukari rose up from the floor a few seconds after she had woken up. She removes the sheets from her body before turning to Rin who is sleeping next to her and on her own bed. She could hear Illya snoring as she slept on the bed above Rin's. Yukari turns to her front and moans as she proceeds to stretch out her arms.

A few seconds later, Yukari turns her head when she heard Rin moaning. She too had woken up from her sleep and groggily opens her eyes.

"Good morning, Rin." Yukari said to her. Rin rolls over to the side and stares back at her with dull eyes.

"Good morning, Miss Yukino. How was your sleep?" Rin asked wearily.

"Well, my body kinda aches from sleeping on the flat metal floor the whole night." Yukari said before rubbing her eyes.

Rin lets out a yawn before replying, "Yeah, sorry about that. Until we can get a new bed, you'll have to get used to it." She said.

Their conversation is suddenly interrupted by a loud snore, causing Yukari to yelp. Rin and Yukari look up for a moment as Illya continues sleeping heavily on her bed while snoring loudly.

Rin narrows her eyes in annoyance. "Tch. What a pig."

\-----

After placing the food onto three separate plates, Shirou hummed merrily as he places the spatula down and picks the plates up. He turns around to face Saber, Chulainn and Ricky who are sitting at the dining table.

"We're having scrambled eggs for breakfast today. Enjoy!" Shirou said as he places the food in front of them. After grooming themselves and changing into their clothes, Yukari and Rin step out of the bathroom and enter the dining area.

"Good morning, everyone." Rin and Yukari both greeted everyone who is present.

"Good morning." Ricky, Chulainn and Shirou replied as they and Saber look back at them.

"Good morning, boss." Yukari turned to Saber and greeted her new superior.

"Morning." Saber said as she gave her a solemn nod. After giving her a nod as well, Yukari turns to Ricky and smiled.

"All of you sure look spry this morning." Yukari commented as she and Rin each pull out a chair.

"Well, for the last two days, we blew up a destroyer, saved the world from Matou Industries once again and gained a new member into our team. Surely that's something worth being ecstatic about." Ricky replied as he raises his hand. Yukari gave him a high-five before sitting down next to him. As Rin also takes a seat, Shirou walks over to them and places two plates of scrambled eggs in front of them.

"Here you go, girls. Tanoshinde!" Shirou smiled at them. Yukari bows her head to him gratefully. After Shirou grabs his own plate of scrambled eggs and sits down with the others, everyone pick up their cutlery and begin eating their breakfast.

"So where's Illya?" Ricky asked.

"Sleeping like a baby…a baby pig." Rin replied.

"Oh. Same as always." Lancer shrugged.

"You're all okay with this?" Yukari asked in bewilderment.

"Yeah. She may not look like it, but she's the hardest worker in this group. So she deserves the most rest than all of us." Saber answered.

"Even our boss respects her." Shirou added. After they finished eating their food, Rin takes out her smartphone as Chulainn opens up his can of beer.

"Pretty early to be drinking beer, don't you think?" Yukari asked him.

"Beer is liquid bread. And we eat bread in the morning, don't we?" Chulainn smirked before taking another sip of his beer.

"Man, is it just me or is the Wi-Fi here really slow today?" Rin said, staring at the screen of her smartphone in annoyance.

Saber takes out her own smartphone and opens up the Internet. Realizing that it is taking a long while for the Internet to appear onscreen, she sighs in frustration. "You're right." She uttered before turning to Ricky. "Ricky, don't mind going upstairs to fix the servers?"

"Sure." Ricky replied as he gets up from his chair.

"Do you want me to come along and help you?" Yukari asked Ricky.

"Sure. You still need to familiarize yourself around the boat anyways." Ricky said to her. Yukari smiled at him before getting up from her chair. The two walk over to the stairs together and head outside.

\-----

Ricky and Yukari both sat down on the wooden floor of the yacht's bow. As Yukari places the necessary tools and an empty plastic box aside, Ricky opens up a section of the floor, revealing two servers stack onto each other. He carefully carries the servers out, with the wires on their backs still attached to the electrical ports at the bottom. He places them onto the floor, lifts up the top server and examines it.

"Screwdriver." Ricky said to Yukari. She immediately obliged and passes the screwdriver to him. Ricky takes it as he places the top server down. Yukari watched as Ricky removes the screws from the top panel of the server.

"Ricky, don't mind if I ask you some questions?" Yukari asked.

"Go ahead. Hit me." Ricky replied as he places the screws he removed into the plastic box.

"You're the second-in-command of this group, right?"

"Yup." Ricky nodded his head.

"I assume that means Arturia trusts you a lot, does she?"

"Yeah, we do trust each other a lot." Ricky said as he removes the top panel, revealing the contents inside the server. "Saber is not just my boss, she's also my friend."

"I see."

"By the way, it's better if you refer to her as Saber." Ricky places the panel aside and looks up at Yukari. "She honestly doesn't like being referred by her real name."

"Oh?"

"There was a time she acknowledged her real name, but she has now since disowned it."

"How did you two first meet each other?" Yukari inquired.

Ricky turns his head away and momentarily stayed silent. He looks back at Yukari and answered solemnly, "Let's just say, Saber is someone who came into my life and saved me. Remember that I told you that I have a fucked-up stepdad? If it wasn't for her, my life would still be a living hell."

"I see. And you felt that you owed Artu-" Yukari immediately cuts herself off when Ricky arches an eyebrow. "I mean Saber, a huge debt ever since." Ricky nodded again before he looks down at the server.

"After saving my life, she offered me to join her and become a mercenary. I never wanted to become one. But because I have nowhere to go after what my stepdad did to me and my mom, I decided to join her anyway. Pliers." He said as he extends out his hand. Yukari picks up the pliers and places it on his hand. Ricky then uses the tool to carefully remove a chip from the server.

"Is there anything else about Saber? The only other thing I know about her is that her boss Kiritsugu mentioned she had an experience with the Justice system." Yukari said.

Ricky laughed. He then replied as he picks up a new chip from the plastic box and placing it into the server, "I honestly don't know much about her either. Funny thing is, although Saber and I are very close to each other, she rarely tells me anything about herself. But that's okay. I don't mind. If she doesn't want to talk about it, let her be. But I'm sure that whatever happened between her and the Justice system, that's what made her to become a mercenary."

"I guess so." Yukari murmured. The two then lapsed into silence as Ricky continues the repairs.

\-----

Saber sat at her desk inside her own personal quarters. After turning on her laptop, she opened up a drawer and sees a photo frame. She picks up the frame and stares at the picture inside of it. She sighed sadly.

"Kairi…I wish things have gone differently…" Saber said barely above a whisper. She slides her hand across the picture before gently putting it back into the drawer and closes it.

\-----

Illya yawns and stretches out her arms as she enters the dining area. Shirou is at the kitchen sink, cleaning the plates while Chulainn is currently drinking his second can of beer.

As her arms droop to her sides, she greeted the two men with dull eyes, "Guten Morgen, everybody."

"Good morning." Shirou and Chulainn replied to her.

"Your food is on the table." Shirou said as he turns back to the sink and continues his chores.

Illya sniffed as she walks closer to the dining table. "Scrambled eggs?"

"Yup." Chulainn said.

"Alright!" Illya perks up. She grabs her chair and sits down. As she pulls herself to the table and starts eating her breakfast, Yukari walks down the stairs and enters the main room.

"Great job to you and Ricky in fixing the servers." Shirou turned to Yukari. "The Wi-Fi is working perfectly again."

"Thanks." Yukari nodded to Shirou before turning to Illya. "Good morning, Illya."

"Gooten Moorgern!" Illya turns to Yukari and replies with her mouth full. After taking a huge gulp, she repeats herself. "Guten Morgen!"

"Where's Ricky?" Shirou asked as he turns off the sink and places the clean plate aside.

"He's staying upstairs to take a puff." Yukari said as she finds herself standing in front of the dining table. "Where is Rin?"

"She went down to the garage." Shirou replied, turning back to the front and starts cleaning the next plate with a sponge.

"Garage?" Yukari widens her eyes in surprise.

"Yeah, she was so happy when the Wi-Fi returned that she went down there immediately."

"No, I mean this boat has a garage?"

"Along with a car, some bikes and an SUV? Yeah, it does." Illya said. "I guess you still haven't visited every part of this boat yet."

Chulainn then lets out a sigh. Yukari turns to him and sees that he has finished drinking his second can of beer. He places the empty can onto the table and next to the last can of beer he finished drinking before. He then picks up one of three unopened cans of beer in front of him, much to Yukari's annoyance.

"Seriously Chulainn, you really need to control yourself. It's still morning for God's sake." Yukari said. As he opens up the next can, Chulainn looks back at Yukari irritably.

"Listen to me, baby." Chulainn said.

"Baby?" Yukari arches an eyebrow in annoyance.

"You can't stop a man from enjoying the best invention in the entire world." Chulainn smirked at her before chugging down his drink. Yukari folds her arms as she watched. After he finished drinking, Chulainn places the empty can next to the others. He was about to grab the next unopened can but much to his surprise, Yukari snatches the two remaining cans.

Chulainn turns to her as Yukari opens one of the cans. "Who says I can't stop you?" She said. Much to his astonishment, Chulainn watches Yukari chugs down her beer. Shirou and Illya also watch her with amused looks.

After she finished drinking, she places the empty can next to the others. She turns back to Chulainn who points his finger and the last can of beer in her hand.

"Uh-uh, I'm keeping it and drinking it later." Yukari waves her finger at him. Chulainn moans as he hangs his head in disappointment. Shirou laughed as he grabs a chair and sits down. He had finished cleaning the plates so now, he is taking a break.

"I didn't know you drink too." Shirou said to Yukari as she also pulls out a chair and sat next to Illya.

"Yeah, I do drink." Yukari said. Her face then distorts into a grimace. "I actually started drinking three years ago, when I got into a scandal which damaged my reputation as a teacher and my relationships with my friends and family. I fell into depression back then. And I guess it's all coming back to me again after what happened between me and Mr. Kodama." She paused for a moment to let out a heavy sigh. "Life wouldn't stop dragging my face through the floor."

"I know how you feel, Miss Yukino. Honestly, I'm still struggling to bear what happened to me in the past as well." Shirou said grimly. "I used to work alongside with my father. But I quit and settled with this group after I've lost someone important to me. And till this day, I never got over it. I still repent over what happened between us because it was literally my own fault. So you don't have to feel ashamed to admit to us that you got screwed over. All of us here also had our lives messed up one way or another. If you are struggling to get over your past, all of us here are with you."

Yukari gazed at Shirou and contemplate what he had said to her before her lips flipped into a warm smile. "Arigatou Shirou. I'm really thinking that of all of the people in this boat, you're the most…normal."

"You think so? Thanks." Shirou said, grinning cheerfully at her.

"Uh-oh, someone's jealous." Chulainn said. Yukari looks at him for a moment before turning her head to Illya. She yelps as she sees the scowl on her face that the young girl is giving her right now.

Illya then picks up her fork and began poking Yukari's shoulder with it. This causes the older woman to inch away from her. Shirou sighed as he watches the display. Illya places the fork down and gets up from her chair. She goes over to Shirou and wraps her arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace.

"Shirou is _my_ good boy. You and Rin please get your own." Illya said to Yukari coldly.

"Rin?" Yukari asked in confusion.

"Yeah, she sees Rin as her rival." Shirou said, smiling sheepishly at her.

"And I don't need you to be my second rival and turn this into a triple threat!" Illya snapped at Yukari as she jabs a finger at her.

Yukari stares back at her in exasperation and murmured, "I never even think of forming rivalries here."

"Illya," Everyone in the dining area turn their heads to the stairway when they heard Ricky calling out to the girl. He walks down the stairs and entered the main room. "I know you're feeling irritated right now, but if you're done eating your breakfast, can you follow me to Saber's room and see if our boss had anything for us to do?"

Illya pouts at Ricky. "Do I have to?"

"Will you do it for us, please?" Shirou asked Illya politely. The girl instantly perks up.

"Jawohl!" Illya squealed, smiling at Shirou. She pulls away from her hug and scampers over to Ricky. He and Illya held each other's hands as they make their way to Saber's quarters. Chulainn and Shirou sigh in relief after Illya is out of sight.

"You should still be scared of Illya though. She isn't nicknamed 'Berserker' for nothing." Chulainn said.

"Speaking of her, how did she become a member of your team anyway? She does seem very young to be a mercenary." Yukari inquired.

"First of all, she isn't young. She's 18 years old." Chulainn said to Yukari with a solemn frown. Yukari stares back at him dumbfounded for a moment before she nods her head. "Second, it was Shirou's father who adopted her."

Yukari's eyes remained wide. "That means-"

"Yes, she's my adoptive sister." Shirou said.

"No wonder." Yukari murmured.

"But my father chose not to make her an Emiya out of respect of her previous parents. Before she was adopted, she was mentally unstable. Because of that, she had a hard time finding any parents who are willing to adopt her. But only my father approached and took her in. It took us a while but eventually, my father and I managed to control her mental state." Shirou explained. "Despite being mentally unstable though, she is a very intelligent girl. She is a prodigy, who learns things really fast. It's like for one moment when you show her how to build a gun, a few minutes later, she immediately knows both the basic and advanced info."

"She's a real-life super human computer." Chulainn said, placing his arms on the table. "And it's scary."

\-----

Saber momentarily turns her attention away from the laptop when she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." She said. The door opened and Saber sees Ricky and Illya entering her room.

"Guten Morgen, Boss!" Illya greeted cheerfully with a salute.

"Morning, Illya." Saber replied with a small smile as Ricky closes the door behind him. "Ricky, how is our newest member doing?"

"Yukari? She's doing fine." Ricky said as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. "She's been a pretty good helper for the last two days. Although, have you found an important role for her to do yet?"

"Yeah boss. I invent things, Shirou is both a cook and a sharpshooter, Rin does the driving and fixing, Ricky and Chulainn are the main fighters…so what kind of role will she do here?" Illya asked.

"I'm still thinking on that." Saber said. "Though I already know Yukari can't be a fighter since she probably never hold and use a gun in her life."

"So why did you still let her into the group?" Ricky asked.

"She did save our lives that night after all." Saber's eyes softened. "And since she is jobless, I have to find a way to repay her for what she did for us."

Ricky chuckled. "Even though you show no mercy to our enemies, you still got a soft spot somewhere in you." Saber snorted in annoyance. "Anyways, do we have any job offers today?"

"Kiritsugu contacted me a while ago." Saber said as she leans back on her chair. "We got a mission to do."

\-----

At the garage, Rin's phone is placed on a speaker dock and it plays _The Rolling Stones' Paint It Black_ throughout the room. Rin hums to the song as she places rectangular blocks of letters and numbers onto the tray of an embossing machine. After aligning them properly in a horizontal row, she carefully places a blank white license plate underneath the blocks. She pushes the tray into the machine and it automatically stamps the letters and numbers onto the license plate.

"Hello Rin." Yukari said as she walks over to her from behind.

"Oh hey, Miss Yukino." Rin said, turning around. "Welcome to the garage. This is the place where we keep our vehicles and make our license plates for them."

"I can see that." Yukari said as she turns to the Lamborghini Huracan, Cadillac Escalade SUV and two Ducati 959 motorcycles parked horizontally at the left side of the garage.

"They are absolutely gorgeous, aren't they?" Rin smirked as she folds her arms. "As a Rider, my job isn't just being a driver. I'm also in charge of taking care of the vehicles and making license plates for them. Every time we go on a mission using one of them, we had to throw away the old plates and replace them with new ones that I made myself."

"You seem to know your stuff on vehicles." Yukari turns back to her.

"Yeah. Before I became a part of this group, I was both a street racer and a mechanic back in Los Angeles."

"Oh? What made you become a mercenary later on then?"

Rin's eyes grew cold as her arms droop to her sides. "I became a mercenary and joined Saber's team because I got a score to settle with Matou Industries." She said icily. "Zouken Matou, the CEO of Matou Industries, took everything that was dear to me and my family. And now, he's living in glorious luxury after what he did." Rin narrows her eyes deeply as she clenches her fists tightly. "I'll never forgive that slimy bastard. And the only way I'll ever forget what he and Matou Industries did to us, is if his entire company burns down to the ground."

Yukari stares at Rin wordlessly, noticing the fire burning inside her eyes. She frowned worriedly at her as the two stood in awkward silence.

Suddenly, Saber's voice could be heard coming from the speaker placed at the top left corner of the garage, getting the attention of the two women.

"Everyone, please come into my room right now."

\-----

Ricky, Illya, Chulainn, Shirou, Rin and Yukari stood in front of Saber in a horizontal row. Seeing that everyone is present in her room, Saber begins the briefing as she sat behind her desk. She turns her laptop around, showing her team members a portrait of a man with black buzz cut hair, brown eyes and black goatee.

"Alright everyone, here's the mission we've been assigned by Kiritsugu. It's requested by the California Highway Patrol. Our target is a man named Bill Savage. He is the leader of a drug cartel called The Falcons which operates throughout the state of California. The police managed to arrest almost every member of his gang, but he and three others are still at large, making them the last four members of The Falcons. The three others who are with him are Odell Toole, Harold Knight and Veronica Johnson."

Saber presses a key on her laptop and the screen now shows portraits of three other people. Two of them are portraits of the obese man and the brown-haired man while the third and last portrait shows a woman with long red hair, tied to a ponytail.

"For the last few days however, Bill and his remaining men are able to give them a hard time. They have outsmarted the police and killed several of their officers time and time again." Saber continued. "And that's where we come in. The California Highway Patrol recently contacted our organization to track down their current location and hunt them down. Kiritsugu and Maiya discovered that they are now hiding in San Diego. Our mission is to take down Bill and his remaining men, dead or alive."

After closing her laptop, Saber turns to Rin and Yukari. "For this mission, I want Yukari to team up with Rin."

"You want me to be in the mission, boss?" Yukari widens her eyes in surprise.

"Don't worry Yukari!" Rin smiled as she wraps an arm around her. "It'll be exciting!"

"This will be your first ever mission as a mercenary. Treat it as a learning experience." Ricky added with a smirk. Illya and Chulainn snickered as they and Shirou smile at Yukari as well. Saber then made a cough, causing everyone to turn back to their front.

"Shirou, you'll be alone for this mission." Saber said to him.

"Understood, ma'am." Shirou replied with a nod.

The leader then turns to Ricky, Illya and Chulainn. "The rest of you, you're with me." The three silently nod their heads.

"Any questions?" Saber asked. Everyone remain silent. "Alright then. Rin, take us to San Diego."

\-----

The door was burst open and several SWAT members storm into the huge storage room of the abandoned warehouse. They immediately lift up their rifles and turn on their lights. They analyze their surroundings as they slowly walk their way through the large room.

Their vision landed on a pile of wooden crates placed at the corner of the room. The leader signaled his team members to halt. While his team members remain vigilant, the leader slowly walks over to the crates. He turns to one of his members and gestures him to come over. The member rushes over to him and pulls out a crowbar. The leader watched as his fellow member opens the crate. When the lid is open however, they didn't find any bags of cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Instead, inside the crate is a pile of C4.

The leader widens his eyes in horror and turns to his fellow team members. "Fall back!"

A few seconds after they try to make their escape, the C4 detonated, creating a huge explosion that destroys half of the abandoned warehouse.

Miles away from the now-destroyed warehouse, Harold and Odell cackled as they watch the explosion through the rear view mirror of a semi-trailer truck.

"Ahahahahahahaha! Those dumb fucks are already too late!" Odell laughed with his hands placed on the steering wheel.

"And they regard themselves as California's most vigilant." Harold said with a lopsided grin as he sat next to him at the passenger seat.

"More like California's most inadequate!" Odell said before he and Harold laugh again.

"Keep your eyes on the road, you two." A voice said with obvious annoyance in his tone, causing Odell and Harold to yelp.

"Sorry, boss. We'll do that." Odell replied to the radio in front of them.

Inside the trailer, their leader, Bill Savage, puts down his two-way radio as he sat inside along with several wooden crates of drugs. Veronica Johnson, who is wearing a sleeveless orange mid-thigh dress and black high-heel shoes, lied down next to him with her hand pressed against Bill's chest. Bill has his left arm wrapped around her.

"They got a point though." Veronica said with a sly smirk. "With you around, those cops are nothing but idiots, and a nuisance too."

"Thankfully, we won't have to worry about them any longer." Bill said, sliding his hand through the top of the crate next to him. "Once we go over the border and enter Mexico, they won't be able to hunt us down anymore and we can start The Falcons all over in a brand new country."

"Heheheh, you said it, dear." Veronica said with a wide grin plastered across her face. Bill smiles back at her before they plant a kiss onto each other's lips.

"Hasta la Vista, California." Harold uttered as he lies back on his seat.

"And Tijuana, here we come!" Odell whooped as their truck pass by a large wooden billboard.

Unbeknownst to them, a Lamborghini was parked behind the billboard. It came out of its hiding spot and followed their truck.

"Don't worry Yukari, you'll do fine." Rin assured as she drove. She is currently dressed in a pink tank top, blue denim shorts and red shoes while Yukari is wearing a pink neck scarf, a white t-shirt, blue jeans and brown boots. "You were a teacher before, right? Just sweet-talk to them the same way you'll talk nicely to a student."

"I haven't done that in a long time though. I spent the last three years in Matou Industries, getting ordered and yelled at." Yukari said as she sat at the passenger seat in agitation.

"But you're no longer with them, right? Then imagine yourself, still being a teacher and that you've never worked for that damn company. Never forget who you previously were, Yukari." Rin finished by turning her head to Yukari and giving her a warm smile. Yukari turns back to her front and nods her head. Rin gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder before looking back to the front and turning the car to the left. The car accelerates pass the trailer and towards the left side of the truck.

"Do your thing." Rin said as she presses a button. The side windows are lowered and the roof of the Lamborghini is retracted. Yukari turns to the truck and smiled as she waves her hand at Harold and Odell.

"Yoohoo!" Yukari squealed. Harold and Odell turn their heads and stare at her in confusion. Harold lowers the window and pokes his head out.

"Hello there." Yukari greeted them. Rin briefly turns her head and smiled at the two men as well. "We're tourists who travelled all the way from Arizona and visiting California for the first time in our lives. We're on our way to Los Angeles where we'll be spending our holiday there but unfortunately, we got lost. So don't mind telling me and my friend Asuka here how to get there?"

Harold turns back to Odell who shakes his head. Harold looks back at Yukari and smiles at her. "Sorry but um, we don't know which direction is to LA either."

"Oh…I see…" Yukari said, pretending to look disappointed. "Kind of a shame, travelling all the way here from Arizona, just to have absolutely no clue how to get to Los Angeles. I would love to go there right now and see Venice Beach and the Hollywood sign…"

As the two men are distracted with Yukari and her ramblings, two motorcycles accelerate towards the back of the trailer. The motorcycle on the left is driven by Ricky while Chulainn sat behind him. The other motorcycle is driven by Saber, with Illya sitting behind her, wearing a backpack and had her arms wrapped tightly around her boss.

Illya momentarily releases her arms around Saber and puts her backpack in front of her. She unzips the bag and removes a proximity mine from it. She turns to the locked trailer doors and throws the mine at them. The mine lands on the doors and attaches itself onto them securely.

Saber releases a hand from the handlebar and places a finger onto her earpiece.

"Fire when I give the signal, Archer." Saber said to Shirou through her earpiece.

_"Understood." Shirou replied._

Saber then places her hand back on the handlebar. She turns to Ricky and Chulainn and nods her head to them. The two men nod their heads back to her. Saber turns back to her front as Illya wraps an arm around her tightly and places her head on her back. Saber turns her motorcycle to the right and moves forward.

She accelerates pass the trailer and over to the hitch that is attached to the back of the truck.

"Do it." Saber ordered Illya. The white-haired girl releases her arm around Saber and inserts her hand into her backpack again. She removes another proximity mine and turns her head to her left. Saber then carefully drives closer to the truck, allowing Illya to place the mine under the trailer and in front of the hitch.

Illya then zips her backpack and puts it back on. She turns to her boss and gave her a thumbs-up. Saber then slows down her motorcycle, moving away from the truck as Illya wraps both arms around her again.

"Ma'am, I think we had enough lessons and information from you!" Harold yelled at Yukari in annoyance.

"No, wait! Hear me out!" Yukari cried. "Did you know that the proper Spanish pronunciation of Los Angeles is actually _'Loes Ann-hey-lays'_?" Harold and Odell both groan and roll their eyes. "And the name of the city itself is named for Mary, the mother of Jesus and the Queen of Heaven."

"What's going on over there?" Bill's voice spoke from Odell's radio.

Odell picks up the radio and replied, "Some annoying tourist is pestering us even when we told her that we're done listening to her."

"Then what the fuck are you still listening to her for?! Just ignore her and have your eyes back on the road!" Bill scolded.

"Got it!" Odell said before putting away the radio.

Harold turns back to Yukari and yells at her again, "Nice listening to you, ma'am. But it's time for you to piss off! Bye!"

After listening to Saber's order through her earpiece, Rin turns to Harold and Odell.

"Before you sign off, I got something to say to you and your boss!" Rin yelled at the two men.

"Huh?" Harold and Odell both said as they stare back at her incredulously. Rin shot a glare and holds up a middle finger at them.

"Fuck you for terrorizing my home state!" Rin turns back to her front and reverses her car while Yukari sits back on her seat as the roof and side windows are raised; leaving two very confused men to comprehend what is going on.

Saber and Ricky brought their motorcycles to a complete halt and they, Chulainn and Illya watch the truck and its trailer moving further away from them. Rin stops her car beside Ricky and Chulainn.

After her team is reunited, Saber places her finger on her earpiece and shouted, "Archer, now!"

Many miles away from the truck and road, Shirou is kneeling behind some small bushes. He watched the moving truck through the scope of his sniper rifle. As he steadily holds up and slowly turns his rifle, he quickly lands his vision onto the mine that had been placed on the hitch and aims at it.

"Roger." He replied to his boss nonchalantly. He pulls the trigger and fires a well-aimed shot at the mine. The mine exploded, not only destroying the hitch but also sending the back of the truck and the front of the trailer to flip upwards.

Inside the trailer, Veronica screamed as she and Bill find themselves falling over. Most of the wooden crates inside also fell and their lids are smashed open as they hit the metal floor, spilling all of its contents out.

Bill snarled as he pushes Veronica off of him and he widens his eyes in horror at the fallen crates and the spilled drugs. "My drugs!"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Illyasviel chortled and pump her fists into the air as she and her teammates watch the explosion and the following collision.

As the truck and its trailer fall back down, they skid through the road, turning sideways in the process. When the truck eventually came to a stop, the trailer however kept sliding through the road and collides itself against the vehicle. Harold and Odell scream as the trailer smash against the right side of the truck, breaking the side windows in the process.

When both the trailer and the truck finally stopped, Saber turns to Ricky and Chulainn.

"Assassin, Lancer, deal with Bill and Veronica. Berserker and I will deal with Harold and Odell." Saber said as she, Ricky, Lancer and Illya get off of their motorcycles.

"Aye." Ricky replied before pulling out his .44 Magnum revolver while Chulainn draws out his AK-47 rifle.

"Move!" Saber shouted after drawing out her Glock 17 pistols. She, Ricky, Chulainn and Illya run over to the truck and trailer. As they ran, Ricky and Chulainn run to the left while Saber and Illya go to the right.

When Ricky and Chulainn arrived at the back of the trailer, the former holds up his revolver and fires a bullet at the mine. The explosion burst the doors open. When the smoke is cleared, Ricky and Chulainn hold up their weapons and cautiously walk into the trailer.

Meanwhile, Harold opens the left door of the truck. He and Odell get out of the vehicle and land onto the rocky road.

"Hey!" Illya shouted at them. The two men turned their heads to her and Illya pouts at them as she places her fists at the sides of her hip. "Didn't your parents tell you both that winners don't do drugs?"

Harold and Odell turn to each other and they burst out laughing. Then, they grin maliciously as they draw out their pistols.

"Go fuck yourself, little girl." Harold said as he and Odell aim their guns at Illya. Suddenly, Saber, who was hiding behind the front of the truck, stood up and fires her pistols at the two men. The bullets hit their hands, causing them to drop their guns and scream in agonizing pain.

As she walks over to them, Saber continuously fires her right pistol at Odell. Harold froze and watch in horror as five bullets shot his friend through his chest, shoulders and arms.

Odell stared at Saber with his eyes widened and his mouth hanging agape as she fires one last bullet through his forehead. Odell rolls his eyes back as the shot sends him falling onto his back.

Harold gazed at the lifeless body of his partner in terror until he heard a click. He turned around and trembled as Saber looked back at him with cold eyes, holding up her left pistol and aiming at his face.

"And fuck you too, with six bullets to your head." Saber said icily before proceeding to fire her gun mercilessly at Harold.

Meanwhile, Ricky and Chulainn slowly walk through the interior of the trailer. They carefully pass through the fallen crates as they do so.

Suddenly, Veronica lets out a scream as she stood up and whirled about from behind a crate. She fires a machinegun at her pursuers, who both quickly roll over the floor and hide behind the nearest crate to them.

"LEAVE ME AND BILL THE FUCK ALONE, YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!" Veronica shrieked furiously, still firing her weapon aimlessly at her front, even when Ricky and Chulainn are no longer in her sight. While that is going on, Bill is behind her, placing two intact wooden crates into the back seats of an Audi R8.

"That's right, Veronica. Keep them busy." Bill murmured before closing the car door.

As Ricky sits behind a crate for cover, he looks down and sees a bag of cocaine lying on the floor and next to his feet. He turns to his right and sees Chulainn hiding behind another crate. When Chulainn turned to him, Ricky holds up the bag of cocaine and gestures him to Veronica. Chulainn smiled at him and nodded.

Eventually, Veronica stops firing her machinegun and snarled as she looks around, trying to find the two men. "Show yourself, you bastards! You think you can come here and take down me and my sweetheart that easily, think again!"

"Yeah, you're right." Chulainn spoke up. Veronica quickly holds up her weapon again and aims at the crate on the right. Chulainn puts down his rifle on the metal floor. He raises his hands up as he stood up and turns around. Veronica lifts up her machinegun and aims at his face as he moves away from the crate. "We totally underestimated you. And we're sorry."

Veronica narrows her eyes at him as she places her finger in front of the trigger of her machinegun. "Is this your idea of a joke?"

"At least you're not a complete idiot. I'll give you that." Chulainn said as his lips form into a smirk.

"But still not smart enough." Ricky added. Without warning, he got up and tosses the bag of cocaine into the air and towards Veronica. As Veronica turns her head, Ricky swiftly holds up his revolver and fires a bullet at the bag, bursting it and filling the air in front of her with white powder.

Veronica backs away and coughed as the powder also temporarily blinded her vision. Ricky then jumps over the crate in front of Veronica and tackles her to the metal floor. As she pinned to the floor, Veronica snaps her eyes open and gasp as Ricky places the muzzle of his revolver against her forehead.

"Word of advice, don't talk when you had the chance to shoot someone." Ricky said.

Suddenly, the sound of a car engine being turned on is heard. Ricky shot his head up and he sees Bill, sitting inside the driver seat of his Audi R8. He reversed his vehicle, causing Ricky to quickly roll away.

Unfortunately for Veronica, all she could do is let out one final scream before Bill rolls over her with his car.

"Sorry babe, but when it comes to work, my drugs are more important than love." Bill said as he continued reversing his car, knocking down and smashing any wooden crates that were in the way.

As the car approaches Chulainn, he made a slight dash and he quickly climbs onto the vehicle. He then rolls over and lands onto the metal floor safely. He quickly got back up and fires his rifle at the front of Bill's car. The front window is destroyed, but Bill somehow managed to survive the spray of bullets. He successfully reversed his car out of the trailer and skidded through the road. When his car came to a stop, Bill turns his head back to the trailer and sees Chulainn and Ricky running over to the open doorway. With a wide evil grin, he holds up a middle finger at the two men.

"Hasta la vista, cocksuckers!" Bill shouted at them. He laughed evilly as he turns back to his front and places his hand back on the steering wheel.

He steps on the gas pedal and drives off, believing that he has escaped. Of course, that was just wishful thinking.

Moments later, Rin's Lamborghini came out from the left and collided against the left side of Bill's Audi, pushing it out of the road. As Rin's car quickly came to a halt, Bill's Audi flipped over a couple times before the rolling came to a stop and the vehicle landed itself upside down.

Rin chuckled. "Heh. You forgot to look both sides before driving, shithead. Right, Yukari?" She turns to her passenger and she noticed Yukari sitting there, looking shell-shocked with her eyes nearly bulging out of her sockets. Rin sighed as she places her hand on Yukari's shoulder. "You'll get used to it."

Bill groaned heavily as he finds himself hanging upside down. The only thing that is keeping him in his seat is the safety belt strapped over his torso and waist. He could feel his arms and legs are broken and blood is furiously pouring down from the fresh cut on his forehead. Pieces of broken glass also cut him all over his body and his broken arms are hanging down freely.

As his eyelids flittered dangerously, he could hear the sound of footsteps. He turns his head and could barely see Ricky kneeling down and staring back at him. Ricky shrugged his shoulders and casually holds up his revolver. Bill slightly widens his eyes and hangs his mouth agape.

"Too much coke leaves you broke." Those were his last words to Bill before he pulls the trigger.

\-----

_"The police found four dead bodies on the highway, approximately 18 miles away from the US-Mexico border. They were confirmed to be the last four wanted members of the now former drug cartel, The Falcons. One of them is the cartel's leader, Bill Savage, along with Veronica Johnson, Harold Knight and Odell Toole."_

As the news surrounding the deaths of Bill Savage and his men is being announced on the television hanging at the front of the bar counter, Ricky, Saber, Shirou, Rin, Chulainn, Illya and Yukari cheered as they raise their drinks into the air. The seven mercenaries are now sitting around a table, outside of a bistro located in Downtown San Diego, where they hold a celebration of the success of their latest mission.

However, when they do return back to the yacht, there is some work to do. Saber has to file a report to Kiritsugu, Illya has to build more mines before their next mission and Rin has to repair the damages to the front of their Lamborghini. But for now, the seven mercenaries are taking this opportunity to have some rest and relaxation.

"A toast to another successful mission." Saber said to her crew. Everyone sit back down on their chairs and drink their beverages.

After placing their glasses down, Rin turns to Yukari and asked, "So Yukari, what do you think about your very first mission?"

"It was…" Yukari thought for a moment before nodding her head. "Interesting."

Ricky chuckled. "Seriously? We took down a drug cartel and destroyed their operations once and for all, and it's just…interesting?"

"To be fair, it was just a rather small mission." Saber said. "But trust me, Yukari. There will be much bigger missions than that in the future and I hope you'll be prepared for that."

Yukari solemnly nods her head to her boss. Shirou smiled at her as he gave her a pat on her shoulder.

"For now though, you can just chill and relax." Shirou said to her calmly.

"And what better way to relax and celebrate than chugging down on some beer?" Chulainn said, smiling as he holds up his nearly-empty glass. He extends his hand out to the jug of beer placed in the middle of the table. But before he could grab it, Yukari snatches it away from him, much to his surprise. She pours the beer into her glass and quickly gulps it down as soon as she does.

Yukari exhales after she finished drinking her beverage. "You're absolutely right."

"Hey, stop drinking my beer, Caster!" Chulainn yelled at her in annoyance. "At this rate, we're all going to run out of it!"

"We could always order another one. No biggie." Yukari said nonchalantly to him.

"But somebody has to pay for it with their own money!"

"Tell you what? Let's see who drinks their beer the fastest! Loser has to pay the next jug!"

"You're on!" Chulainn shouted, jabbing his finger at her.

Yukari passes the jug of beer to Illya, letting her do the honors. Chulainn and Yukari glare at each other as they place their glasses on the middle of the table. As they continue staring into each other's eyes, Illya pours the beer into their glasses. She places the jug aside and sits back down on her seat.

"Begin!" Illya exclaimed. Immediately, Chulainn and Yukari began gulping down their beer. Within only four seconds, Yukari turns her empty glass upside down and places it on the table. Chulainn snaps his eyes open and spits out his beer, completely shocked that he has lost the challenge.

Shirou, Rin and Illya cheered and applauded as Yukari leans back on her chair, smiling slyly at Chulainn with her arms folded.

Chulainn groans as he slams his forehead onto the table in defeat. Ricky turns to Saber and shrugged.

"Yup, I'm sure she will fit in with us just fine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a while, not only because it's long, but also because my family and I have been dealing with personal issues lately. I hope you all understand and enjoyed reading this newest chapter anyway.


	4. Bordeaux, Part 1

**_Bordeaux, France_ **

A brown-eyed man with balding black hair breathed heavily as he sat on a wooden chair. His mouth is gagged by a towel, his arms and hands are placed at the back of the chair and his body and legs are bounded to the chair by ropes.

His eyes are nearly bulging out of their sockets as he stares at the woman in the front of him. As her back is facing him, the woman turns off the sink after she is done cleaning and rinsing the blade of her knife.

The man watched the woman rubs her nose as she sniffled loudly.

"I just…I just…" The woman paused for a moment to take a gulp, struggling to suppress her sobs. "I just wanted a friend…that's all…how simple was that?"

The woman turns around to face the man. He could only make helpless, muffled screams as she advances towards him with the knife in her hand.

"You are just like them. Just like all of them." The woman whispered sadly. When she finally finds herself standing in front of the man, her look of sorrow and hopelessness distorts into an ugly scowl of rage as her teeth breaks into a snarl. "Go to hell."

The man could only let out one last muffled scream before the woman thrusts her knife down on his chest.

\----

**_One week Later…_ **

"Have you seen this man?" Saber asked the bartender as she showed him a photo of the man with brown eyes and balding black hair.

The bartender gasped upon seeing the man in the picture. "Oh, I know him! That's Richie Lacroix!" He responded to Saber and Ricky as they sat at the bar counter. "He's a regular patron in this bar. But he hasn't come here for two weeks now. I wonder why?"

"I hate to break it to you sir, but Mr. Lacroix has been reported missing." Saber said flatly, putting away the photo.

"Really? He is? Ay yai yai." The bartender shakes his head, disheartened by the news.

"When was the last time you met him and how did things go between the both of you during your last encounter?" Ricky inquired.

"Well…" The bartender paused for a moment as he scratches the back of his head. "The last time we spoke to each other was…two weeks ago. He and a woman were sitting at the bar counter, exactly where you two are sitting right now, having drinks together. They both seem to be very happy. They were laughing and talking to each other. Richie ordered me to serve him and the woman some drinks and I just did my job as a bartender. Then at 11 o'clock, Richie and the woman left, and that's the last I saw of him."

"How does this woman he had drinks with look like?" Saber asked.

"And do you know her name?" Ricky added.

"Ah, she was very beautiful. She has long light blue hair, blue eyes and dressed in a purple dress. Unfortunately, I don't know her name. I did hear Richie asking her for it, but she didn't answer his question." The bartender replied. Ricky and Saber exchanged looks of suspicion before turning back to the bartender and nod their heads.

"Thank you for your help." Saber said before she and Ricky got up from their seats and make their way out.

After stepping out of the bar, Saber and Ricky turned to their left and walk down the pavement. He turned to his boss as she took out her box of cigarettes and opens it.

"That bartender is already the fourth person to report to us about a missing man hanging out with a woman with light blue hair, wearing a purple dress." Ricky said to his boss as she inserts a cigarette through her lips.

Saber puts away the box and gets out her lighter. "Aye." She simply said before opening the lid and light up her cigarette.

Saber and her team are now currently in Bordeaux Metropole where they are undertaking their latest assignment. Yesterday, they were given a contract by Simone Lacroix, who reported that her husband Richie Lacroix had gone missing for a week. She contacted the police about his disappearance, telling them that the last time she spoke to him was during an argument that is part of their extremely strained relationship and it ended with Richie walking out of their home and yelling at her that he is heading straight to his favorite hangout, The Sun King's Bar.

That was also the last time she ever saw him and when she overheard one of the police officers as they leave, saying that her husband's disappearance sounded familiar to three other reported missing cases that remained unresolved, Simone began to panic. When six days passed with no new information from the police, Simone resorted to contacting Kiritsugu's organization. Kiritsugu and Maiya did their research on this and handed the mission over to Saber and her team. According to them, they discovered that not only did all the disappearances happened in the communes around the city of Bordeaux, but the three other missing people were an artist named Claude Dupree, an art collector named Christophe Coman, and an art teacher named Vincent Blanc. Simone told Kiritsugu and Maiya that her husband is an art collector who owns a huge collection of paintings which he hung around their home.

The fact that all four missing people have something related to art is already one similarity Saber and her team can deduced, and they have since discovered more.

\----

After returning to the hotel where they are staying in, Ricky and Saber called the other team members into their room. When everybody is present, they all sat on the beds and have their discussion.

"Guess we got something new to add into our list of similarities between these four missing men." Illya said. She raises up a finger with every similarity she mentioned. "They all have a passion for art, one goes missing every two weeks, each went missing from four different bars throughout Bordeaux Metropole and all were last seen with a woman with light blue hair and wears a purple dress."

Saber nods her head in agreement. "Today will be another two weeks passed since Richie Lacroix went missing. This woman is sure to strike again tonight."

"The question now is where will she appear next?" Shirou said.

"Perhaps we should take a look at the map of the city and mark the locations of every bar she had visited." Yukari suggested.

"Good idea." Saber said. Yukari takes out a map from underneath her suit and unfolds it. She lays the map on her lap and the others lean forward to take a closer look at it.

Saber takes out her ballpoint pen from her suit and hands it to Rin. Rin, who sat next to Yukari, grabs the pen from her boss and looks back at the map.

"Saber and I just visited The Sun King's Bar at Merignac commune right here. That's where Richie Lacroix was last seen." Ricky said, placing his finger on the map. He then removes his finger, allowing Rin to draw an 'X' on where he had pointed at.

"The third missing person, Claude Dupree, was last seen at The Tricolour Club at Pessac commune and near the boundaries of the city of Bordeaux." Saber said while looking at the bar's exact coordinates on a more detailed map on her smartphone. "Its location is around here." She points her finger on the bar's location on Yukari's map. Rin then draws another 'X' on it.

"The second victim went missing at The Strong Boar's Arm located in Talence Commune." Ricky said. After finding out the exact location of the said bar on her smartphone, Saber indicates it on Yukari's map and Rin marks it with the pen.

"Finally, the very first victim went missing from King of Spades at Begles Commune." Saber said, placing her finger on another part of the map again. After she removed her finger, Rin quickly marks the location. Yukari holds up the map and turns it around to show the marked locations to everyone.

"Notice a pattern? This woman who has been capturing these men started her journey at Begles. Then she kept moving to the next neighboring commune in a clockwise direction and all the bars are located near Bordeaux's city boundaries." Rin said.

"Richie Lacroix went missing at the far-right corner of Merignac Commune." Ricky said, placing his finger at the marked location of The Sun King's Bar. "That means the next place she is visiting…" He slides his finger upwards to the commune above Merignac. "Is Eysines."

Saber did a quick search on her smartphone. "Bingo." She shows her phone to everyone around her which is showing the exact location of a bar on its screen. "There's a bar located in Eysines commune and near the boundaries of Bordeaux called Jardin Des Mots. That will definitely be where this woman will make her next move." She turns off her phone and tucked it away into the pocket of her suit. "Obviously, we're going over there tonight. But we need a volunteer who will lure this woman for us."

Everybody in the room then turn their heads to Chulainn.

Chulainn arches an eyebrow at everyone before briefly turning his head around. He turns back to the front and shrugged.

\----

When evening falls, the team stationed themselves at Jardin Des Mots. Saber, Ricky, Shirou, Illya, Rin and Yukari sat around a wooden table outside of the bar while Chulainn is inside the place, sitting in front of the counter.

"Yeah, this is nice. Real fucking nice, choosing me as the bait. You guys truly are such nice people, you know that?" Chulainn mumbled to his teammates through his earpiece before taking a sip of his beer.

"You know honestly Cuchu, I thought you would be happier with this assignment. After all, we're in a bar in Bordeaux, one of the greatest wine capitals in the world." Ricky replied, sounding amused.

"And you get to drink lots of beer and wine during all of this. It's supposed to be your dream mission." Illya added merrily.

"Which also includes me getting captured by a possibly deranged woman who may take me to a dark room and grab me by the balls? Yup, totally sounds like my dream mission." Chulainn deadpanned.

Saber groans as she leans back on her chair and places her finger on her earpiece. "Enough talking and just focus on the mission." She said with clear irritation in her voice.

They continue sitting and waiting at the bar for two hours. During this, Chulainn ordered and gulped down several mugs of beer, which he certainly does take pleasure from but unfortunately at the same time, couldn't help but feel a sense of apprehension over his team using him as a bait to attract their target.

Meanwhile, the others are still sitting outside. Saber is puffing a cigarette while Ricky is drinking a mug of beer. Shirou and Rin are playing poker with each other. Illya and Yukari watched them as they play.

"Straight." Shirou said as he places his Ten of Diamonds, Nine of Spades, Eight of Hearts, Seven of Diamonds and Six of Clubs onto the table.

"Beat that!" Illya said with a devilish grin, jabbing a finger at Rin.

Rin flashes a quick smirk at her and Shirou before placing down her cards which consists of a Five of Clubs, a Five of Diamonds, a Five of Hearts, a Five of Spades and a Two of Diamonds. "Quads."

Illya gasped as her eyes widened in shock. She jabs an accusing finger at Rin again and shouted, "Caster helped you, didn't she?!"

"Why would I do that?! I know nothing about poker!" Yukari cried in alarm as she holds up her hands defensively.

"And says the girl who has been helping Archer which card to pick the whole time, but still ended up failing." Rin said to Illya as she folds her arms and leans back on her chair.

"Rider…" Shirou said to Rin with a hint of warning. Illya snarled at her as she clings onto his arm. Shirou turns to her and calmly whispered, "Just let it go, Berserker."

Illya took a deep breath and lowers her head. "I just hate being accused for irreversible mistakes." She muttered with a deep frown. "It's so hard to bear responsibility for something you screwed up, you know?"

Yukari's eyes softened as she stared at her. "Berserker…" She whispered.

"If you guys are done conversing, here comes possibly our target." Saber said, dropping her cigarette onto the floor and crashing it with her foot. Everyone present at the table turned and see a woman approaching the entrance of the bar. Her hair and clothing perfectly matched the description of the mysterious kidnapper. Shirou quickly keeps the cards and put them into his pocket while Saber places her finger on her earpiece. "Lancer, possible target approaching."

_"How does she look?"_ Chulainn asked.

"Light blue hair, blue eyes, purple dress, perfectly fits our description." Ricky replied with his finger placed on his earpiece as well.

"Stay calm and play along. Assassin and Archer will keep an eye on you two from outside." Saber added.

Saber and Ricky could hear Chulainn letting out a sigh before replying to them, _"Okay."_

Saber turns to Ricky and Shirou and gestures them to look through the glass window behind them. Ricky and Shirou turn around and watch the woman approaching the bar counter and Chulainn from behind.

\----

The woman sat down on the vacant seat next to Chulainn. The blue-haired man turned to the woman and smiled. "Bonsoir, Madame. What do you like to drink tonight?"

The woman turns her head to Chulainn and replied, "Hmm, perhaps Merlot?"

"You got it." Chulainn said. He turns to the bartender in front of them and snaps his fingers. "Excuse me, sir. Two cups of Merlot for me and the nice lady here. Both are on me." The bartender bows his head before turning around to grab the said wine. As he is preparing the drink, Chulainn turns back to her and places his arms on the counter. "So, you look like a very interesting person."

"And you seem awfully interested in me. Why is that?" The woman inquired.

"Well, for starters, you are the only one here with a…unique hair color." Chulainn said, swiping his hand to the patrons sitting behind them, who all have either black, brown or blonde hair. The woman chuckled in amusement. "And secondly, I think we are very much alike."

"How so?" The woman asked, just as the bartender places the cups of Merlot in front of them.

"Merci." Chulainn said, glancing at the bartender before turning back to the woman. "Well…do you know anything about art?"

"I love art that is sincere and tranquil. What about you?"

"Have you heard of an artist named Claude Dupree?"

The woman perked up. "I didn't know there's another person around here who knows him. But yes, I do. He is sublime."

"Indeed. But I heard he went missing about 6 weeks ago."

"Really?" The woman frowned. "That's…really sad to hear. I hope the authorities find him."

"Me too."

"You're definitely not a local here. What brings you here to Bordeaux?"

"Oh you know, their beautiful sights, wide varieties of wine and…maybe even find some real adventure, if you know what I mean?"

"If you want adventure, then you should go to the city area itself." The woman said with a hint of a lustful smirk as she twirls her finger around the circular edges of her cup. "Or do you want me to come along with you?"

Chulainn smiled back at her before holding up his cup of Merlot. "That would be great." He said.

The woman holds up her drink as well and they cling their cups before gulping down on their wine.

\----

Saber, Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Illya and Yukari watched Chulainn and the woman walk out of the bar together. The woman had her hands clinging onto Chulainn's left arm as they leave the small building.

"I never thought he would actually pull it off." Ricky said, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Guess you gotta pay me later." Shirou said to him with a small smirk while holding up his hand and rubbing his fingers.

Illya looks down on her smartphone and watch two large red dots slowly moving away from their current location indicated by a blue dot. "Lancer managed to place the tracking device onto the woman." She said.

"Good." Saber said firmly. "Let's follow them."

\----

Chulainn sat next to the woman inside a small pickup truck. The two had left Eysines about thirty minutes ago and they are now driving through the barely empty dark streets of Bordeaux, with only a car or truck passing by them once in a while.

As the woman kept her gaze on the road while she drove, she asked Chulainn, who sat on the passenger seat, "What's your name?"

"Cu. Cu Chulainn." Chulainn said, turning to the woman.

"Aahhh, you're an Irish." The woman's lips form a smile.

"Have you been to Ireland?"

"I would love to." The woman's softened. "Anyways, sorry that I told you that we couldn't exchange our names with each other back at the bar. I'm…very cautious with my own identity."

"It's alright." Chulainn said with a small smile. "There's a saying that a person's name is the most important and beautiful sound in any language."

The woman chuckled as she brushed her bangs across her face. "My name is Medea. It's nice to know you, Chulainn."

"Nice knowing you too, Medea." Chulainn responded. He turned back to the front and he sighs as he leans back on his seat. As they drove through the city, he admired the sights of the city's gorgeous architecture that has a mixture of Gothic and modern urbanism. The lights from the lampposts and the windows of the buildings shine dimly through the night. "Bordeaux sure is a beautiful city."

"It sure is. It's amazing how this city managed to preserve its historical buildings after so many years. I highly recommend seeing Porte Calihau. It may just be a medieval gate, but it's still so beautifully built that even the smallest details are worth a mention." Medea said. "You may also visit the Grand Theatre de Bordeaux that has a gorgeous exterior with a neo-classical façade."

"You really seem to have a huge knowledge in the arts." Chulainn said, turning to the driver.

"I used to be an artist after all."

"Really? Have you ever done any paintings or sculptures?"

"Plenty, yes. But I actually stopped working on them years ago."

"How come?"

"I…" Chulainn noticed that Medea's hands around the steering wheel began to tremble. When she sees the traffic light turning red, she immediately steps on the brakes and brought the truck to a complete halt behind the pedestrian crossing. "I just lost confidence in it. So, I just gave up."

"Hey…" Chulainn spoke barely above a whisper. Medea turns to Chulainn and curiously stared back at him. "How about you bring me to your place and let me take a look at your works?"

\----

After unlocking the door, Medea turned the handle and opens it. When they entered her home, Chulainn looked around the living room. There was the usual couch and television but there are also several paintings hung on the walls, making the living room feel like the world's smallest museum.

Medea locks the door and grabs the key out of the keyhole. She whirled about and sees Chulainn, still examining the paintings hang around the living room in awe. One painting is a picture of a distorted human face that looks like it is twirled and painted in various shades of purple, blue and green.

Another one is a simple oil canvas painting of half of an avocado with a light blue background and has splotches of red paint around it.

One other picture that also caught Chulainn's eyes is a dark painting of four black human figures, looking like they are running through a burnt, black forest and towards the large, bright yellow and orange sun in the background.

"You like them? I painted them myself." Medea said.

"Really?" Chulainn asked as he turned to her. Medea nodded in response. "Why don't you sell them and make yourself a living?"

"Oh, you know how critical people are these days. Most people don't seem to have any appreciation for modern art." Medea said, sounding disheartened.

"I think that's ridiculous." Chulainn said. "Modern art just had a bad reputation among the public because of works by Jackson Pollock and Marcel Duchamp. But artists like Vincent van Gogh, Eduoard Manet and Edvard Munch prove that modern art can truly be great."

Medea smiled as she felt her demeanor sparkle once more. "You're absolutely right." She said, nodding her head again.

Chulainn smiled back at her before cocking his head to the side. "Excuse me but…where's the bathroom?" He asked politely.

\----

After locking the wooden door, Chulainn places the lid of the toilet down and sat on it. He places his finger on his earpiece.

"Sorry that I've been absent for a while, but I'm back." Chulainn said.

_"Report."_ Saber said.

"Well, I'm in our target's home now." Chulainn expounded. "Her name is Medea, and she seems to be a very talented artist. Our conversations went fine. She still hasn't show any signs of suspicion towards me yet."

_"Keep up with the act. At the meantime, search through her home and find any piece of evidence and information that she is our mysterious kidnapper. If you're ever in trouble, contact us immediately. We're near your location and always watching you."_ Saber reassured.

"Boss, don't mind if I speak my two cents about this. I know this woman may be our mysterious kidnapper, but she does seem to be a friendly and down-to-earth person." Chulainn said, expressing concern.

_"Don't let your emotions cloud your mind, Lancer."_ Saber said flatly. _"From my experience, she may seem friendly, but she's still a convincing façade who can snap at any moment. Keep that in mind."_

"Understood." Chulainn said before hanging off the line with his boss. He sat there for a few moments to contemplate on the current situation. He knows that his boss is right. She may be kind and friendly but if he managed to find any convincing evidence, she is still a criminal who needs to be rightfully punished for her actions. However, he does feel a little sad knowing that someone who seems relatable like Medea had to be their assigned target.

He takes a deep breath before getting up from the toilet and heads his way out of the bathroom.

\----

Medea opens the door to her bedroom, allowing her and Chulainn to step inside. Chulainn sees that at the left side of the room is a wardrobe, a single bed is placed at the middle, while a chair and a wooden desk and drawer with a laptop placed on top of it is at the right side. Beside the desk on its left is a glass window with white curtains.

"This is my room. As you can see, it's nothing much." Medea said.

"It's fine." Chulainn reassured. He scratches his head for a moment before he decided to ask the next question to Medea. "Sorry if this is kind of awkward for me to ask all of the sudden but…did you ever tried finding a partner? I'm asking because I know what it's like to be an artist or someone who cares about their work." His eyes softened. "It's nice to find something you love doing, but as time goes on, you are so focused on your work until you have completely forgotten that you need someone in your life. Someone who can give you company, advice and emotional support."

"Actually, I…did had someone in my life once." Medea responded. Chulainn widens his eyes as his interest peaked up. "I honestly still think he is the only person in my life who loves me, shows care and concern for me, share the same interests as I do…" Tears welled up in Medea's eyes as she paused for a moment to take a deep breath. "But the last time we spoke to each other, we fought and argue." She wipes off the tears from her eyes. "And that was the last time I ever see him alive. He died the next day…and his death…broke my heart. And the sad thing is, I can never find another man like him ever since…"

Chulainn stared at her wordlessly for a few moments before expressing his sorrow to her. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Medea walks over to Chulainn and much to his surprise, she wraps her arms around him and gave him a warm embrace as she rests her chin on his shoulder. She then pulls herself away from him and stares into his blood red eyes.

"It's so surreal. We just met each other for a few hours, but I think I already had an affection for you." Medea smiled tenderly at him. Chulainn's eyes softened and he silently nodded his head in response. "Anyways, are you feeling thirsty or anything?"

"A cup of water would be nice." He replied.

"Very good, Chulainn. I'll get one for each of us. At the meantime, make yourself comfortable."

Chulainn watched Medea walk out of the room and close the door behind her, leaving her new friend behind. Chulainn lets out a sigh with a solemn frown. He couldn't believe he had made Medea fallen for him, which would make things even more complicated for them when he would inevitably reveal to her his true identity as a mercenary. Saber is right. He cannot let his emotions cloud his judgment anymore. He needs to focus on the mission and get it over with.

He walks over to the window and looked at the building across the street. He lifts his head up and waves his hand at the top of the building. A few seconds later, someone behind the parapet responded to him by continuously flashing their torchlight.

Chulainn then gave them an 'OK' gesture before turning around and proceeding to look for evidence around Medea's room.

\----

Ricky lowers his torchlight and turns to Saber who stood beside him, holding up her binoculars in front of her light blue eyes and spying at the window of Medea's room.

"Boss, if Medea does turn out to be our target, what do we do with her?" Ricky inquired.

"The contract given to us specifically says that we are to find Richie Lacroix, as well as the fate of the other three men. It didn't say what we're supposed to do with their kidnapper so it's up to us to decide her fate. However, if she is worse than we thought, we may need to take the gloves off." Saber answered, still eyeing at the window.

"I hope we don't have to resort to doing that." Yukari said as she approached Saber and Ricky from behind. Saber lowers her binoculars as she and Ricky turn around. "Does killing have to be an option to punish our targets?"

"What about the remaining members of the Falcons in our last mission at San Diego?" Saber replied flatly to her with a pensive frown. Yukari flinched. "We killed them because they deserve no sympathy. Those guys killed police officers who were only doing their jobs, and they caused grief and sorrow to everyone who are related to those cops who died brutally in the line of duty. If we didn't kill their murderers, their spouses and children would still be in emotional pain for the rest of their lives. This kidnapper may be no different. Everyone who are related to the people who are captured by this woman are still living in pain and anxiety, wondering what had she done to them. If she did anything atrocious to them, I won't hesitate to put a bullet through her head. We're mercenaries, Caster. We are free to do what we want with nothing to cloud our judgment. You're one of us now so you need to adapt. Do I make myself clear?"

Yukari gulped and nodded her head. "Crystal, boss."

Saber whirled about and returned to gazing at the window as she holds up her binoculars in front of her eyes again. Ricky walks over to Yukari and places his hand on her shoulder. She turned to Ricky and he gestures her to follow him.

The two walked away from Saber and head over to the other side of the rooftop. After making sure they are far away from their leader, Yukari turned to Ricky who leans himself against the parapet.

"Don't mind Saber. That's just how she is." Ricky said, folding his arms.

Yukari glances at Saber before turning back to Ricky. "She usually resorts to killing her targets, does she?" She asked.

Ricky nodded. "Whenever we get a contract that says, 'dead or alive', she usually does the former to our target."

"And you guys just roll with it?" Yukari asked.

"She's our boss, Caster." Ricky said, shrugging his shoulders. "There's nothing we can do. Besides, I killed people too. I usually kill those who I think are irredeemable and unsympathetic douchebags, like Bill Savage in our last mission. I shot him because he killed his own girlfriend with absolutely no remorse."

"I understand if you guys are shooting out of self-defense, but killing a criminal still feels wrong." Yukari said solemnly.

"Is killing someone who is a sadist and a monster also wrong?" Ricky narrows his eyes.

"Even the most insane people have backstories that made them what they are now." Yukari replied.

Ricky scoffed and turns his head away. "Does my shithole of a stepfather had a backstory that made him who he is?" He muttered. There was a moment of silence between the two as Yukari stared wordlessly at him with a deep frown.

_"Assassin, Caster, are you there?"_ Saber asked them through their earpieces.

Ricky and Yukari quickly place their fingers on their earpieces. "We're here." Ricky responded flatly.

"Here." Yukari added.

_"Good. Lancer had found some very convincing stuff."_ Saber said.

_"Yeah, I do."_ Lancer said. _"I found a portable hard drive and two wallets, each containing identification cards belonging to Richie Lacroix and Claude Dupree."_

\----

"So Medea did kidnapped them and the two other men as well." Shirou responded to Chulainn as he sat at the backseat of their Cadillac Escalade SUV, parked in an alleyway near Medea's apartment. Rin and Illyasviel also listened to Chulainn attentively as they sat at the driver and passenger seats.

"Then I guess it's time to make our next move." Rin said. "How do we strike, boss?"

_"Continue distracting her, Lancer."_ Everyone in the SUV heard Saber replying to Chulainn. _"Then we'll-"_

_"Oh shit!"_ Chulainn cursed loudly.

_"Lancer? What happened?!"_ Saber asked, raising her voice. Shirou, Rin and Illya gasp and widen their eyes in shock as they listened. Then, there was a click.

\----

"LANCER!" Saber shouted in horror as she, Ricky and Yukari watched the lights coming from the window of Medea's room turned off. She tosses her binoculars to the floor and slams her fists onto the brick parapet. "FUCK!"

"What do we do now?" Ricky asked as he and Yukari stood behind her.

Saber snarled in response. "We strike. _Now._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the latest chapter. Hopefully, I can deliver one more update before the end of the year.


	5. Bordeaux, Part 2

Chulainn groaned as he groggily woke up. The last thing he remembered is that he was speaking to his boss and teammates when suddenly, he heard the door opening. He turned around and remembered the look of mortified horror on Medea's face, which quickly turned into an ugly scowl. Then, the last thing he saw before things went black was seeing her swinging her tray at his face, which actually felt hard and strong enough to knock him out of consciousness. He could hear the tinkling crash of breaking cups and feeling himself falling to the floor with a hard thud as he was knocked out. Chulainn had not expected her to possess the same strength of a professional kickboxer.

When his sense of sight is regained, Chulainn could make a clear vision of Medea's back facing him while she is rinsing and cleaning her knife under the running sink. He tried to move but he felt his arms are being restrained. He looks down and sure enough, he finds his arms and legs being bounded to a wooden chair by ropes.

"You were actually deceiving me, weren't you?" Medea asked dishearteningly as her eyes are focused on the blade.

Chulainn silently turns his head away in shame. "Yes." He replied lamely. "I'm sorry."

Shortly after, Chulainn could hear Medea sniffling. He looks up and sees her wiping her eyes. When she didn't spoke for more than a few seconds, he continued, "Medea, I'm so sorry. I really am."

"I just…" Medea choked, struggling to speak as she weeps. "I thought you…you were…"

"Medea, tell me. Did you kidnap four men named Richie Lacroix, Claude Dupree, Christophe Coman and Vincent Blanc?" Chulainn inquired.

Medea responded by turning off the sink. She turned around to finally face him. Chulainn widens his eyes as she sees the dark, cold glare plastered on her face.

"Yes." Medea replied flatly. "And I didn't just kidnap them. I _slaughtered_ them."

"Why?!" Chulainn yelled. "Why did you kill them?"

"Because I thought they were nice men, but I was wrong." Medea coldly expounded. "Richie Lacroix was a fat cat who was only using me as a tool to anger his estranged wife, only wanting to show her that he no longer loves her. Dupree was fine at first, until he later admitted to me that he already had a girlfriend, saying that I was just someone to comfort him until his relationship with her is repaired, and that he never really liked my art at all. Christophe Coman and Vincent Blanc both heavily criticized my works as well, saying that they were a pile of trash."

Chulainn stared wordlessly at her for a brief moment before saying, "You killed people just because they didn't like your work?"

"I wanted someone who not only doesn't treat me as a tool, but also like my art!" Medea protested, swiping her knife across her eyes and in front of Chulainn. "Do you know how long…how long it has been since I've found someone who actually loved me and shared the same interests as I do?"

"Medea…" Chulainn uttered. "You mean-"

Medea sniffled as she throws her head back with her eyes widened. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks like tiny rivers as she grits her teeth and her entire body trembled.

"Souichirou…oh Souichirou…I…I n-never…I never meant to hurt you!" She cried out in despair.

"Medea…" Chulainn tried to speak again, but Medea looked back at him, quivering with rage as a few strands of hair dangled in front of her burning eyes.

"Damn you Chulainn. DAMN YOU!" Medea roared. She slowly raised her knife as she advanced towards Chulainn. "You are just like them. JUST LIKE ALL OF THEM!"

_**BOOOOOOOOMMMM!** _

Just before Medea could strike, an explosion suddenly sends the door bursting and flying pass her and her hostage. Medea whirled about and sees a girl rolling over the floor, getting up to her feet and placing her hands on both sides of her hip as her long white hair flows down to her waist.

"Guten Abend meine Damen und Herren! Illyasviel von Einzbern, making her grand entrance!" Illya proudly proclaimed.

There was a moment of silence, as Medea is stunned by Illya's sudden appearance and gazed at her in bewilderment.

"Oh and um…" Illya digs her hand into her pocket and she flashes a smile at Medea. "Snap-crackle-pop!" She swiftly pulls out a taser and fires a well-aimed shot at Medea's stomach.

The shot should have caused a jolt of electricity that rips painfully through her body. However, much to Illya's shock and surprise, the electronic projectiles that are pierced through her clothing right now aren't hurting her at the slightest.

Medea narrows her eyes at Illya as she casually swipes off the sparkling projectiles with her gloved hand.

"Protective vest. Won't work on me." Medea said icily.

Illya sighed disappointingly as she drops her taser to the floor. "The hard way, it is." She said as she curled her hands into fists and gets into a fighter's stance.

Medea yells as she suddenly charged forward and swings her knife horizontally at Illya. Illya quickly dodges it by ducking down and delivers a direct punch into Medea's gut. Medea groaned as the blow causes her to bend over. Illya jumps up, placed her hands onto Medea's back and leaps over her.

Both women whirled about at the same time and Medea swings her knife at Illya again. Before the blade could make contact with her cheek, Illya swiftly stops her by grabbing her arm. She lifts her knee up, hitting Medea in her stomach. As Medea backs away and drops her knife, Illya releases her arm and throws her fist at her face.

Not wanting to let her opponent overpower her any longer, Medea quickly dodges the attack by stepping to her side. She then swings her arm at Illya and her elbow collided against her left cheek. Illya briefly let out a squeal of pain before Medea delivers a powerful punch to the back of her head, sending her falling with her face lying down on the floor.

"Berserker!" Chulainn yelled. Medea quickly picks up her knife and goes over to Illya while she is still down. She stood above her from behind, kneels down and grabs her by her hair. Illya cried in agony again as Medea pulls her head up and holds her knife in front of her neck.

"You were strong, girl. I admire that. But I'm officially done with you." Medea said icily.

"NOOOO!" Chulainn shouted helplessly. Without a second thought, Medea slashes her knife across Illya's throat. Illya choked in pain as blood furiously poured out of the fresh gash on her neck. She grabs her neck with her hands in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. She fell back onto the floor, trembling in pain in her own pool of blood.

Medea coldly got up and backs away, watching the girl choked to her death with expressionless eyes. Chulainn froze in horror with his face pale and his blood ran cold. He couldn't believe it. Medea had killed his teammate and he couldn't do anything but watch Illya die a slow and painful death.

Medea looked up at the horrified man and said coldly, "Sorry Chulainn, I had no other choice. But don't worry. You'll join her soon-"

Suddenly, Medea got interrupted by a burst of laughter, much to her shock and surprise. She looks down and sees Illya rolling over the floor and flashes a wide grin at her opponent. Medea screamed in horror as she drops her knife.

"Fooled ya." Illya said. She lifts her legs up and delivers a powerful kick to Medea's stomach, sending her reeling backwards. As she tumbled backwards, the back of her head hit against the sink and she landed on the floor, leaning against the counter with her hands limping at her sides.

Illya gets up and nonchalantly wipes off the 'blood' from her now stained blouse. She then grabs the edge of a plaster and pulls it out, removing a small ripped blood bag that had been painted in beige and revealing her completely unharmed throat.

"Ah, you gotta love the wonders of special effects and makeup." Illya smiled, holding up her ripped blood bag in front of her eyes before she casually drops it onto the floor. She turns around and sees Chulainn, staring back her blankly with his mouth agape. "Don't worry, it's only red paint." She shrugged as she smiled back at him.

When they heard footsteps, Illya and Chulainn turned to the doorway and see Shirou, Rin, Ricky, Saber and Yukari running into the room.

"Berserker, Lancer, are you both alright?" Shirou asked in concern.

"Aside from a few bruises, I'm fine." Illya smiled, placing her hands behind her back.

"Geez Lancer. You look like you got punched in the balls." Rin arched an eyebrow, noticing the dumbfounded look still plastered on Chulainn's face. Ricky and Yukari rush over to Chulainn to help untie the ropes around him.

"Oh, don't worry about him." Illya swiped her hand across her eyes. "He just got scared shitless and screamed like a little girl when-"

"Shut the fuck up, Berserker!" Chulainn protested angrily.

Shirou and Rin turn to each other and sigh. "He's fine." Shirou said with a lopsided smirk. Rin nodded in response. The two then turn to Medea, who moaned in pain as she tried to get up. But she froze when she heard a click. She looks up and gasped in horror when she sees Saber standing in front of her, aiming the barrel of her Glock 17 in between her eyes.

"Not only did you kidnapped four men, but you also tried to kill two of mine." Saber said to Medea coldly. "Tell me. What have you done to the men you've kidnapped?" Medea did not reply. All she could do is stare back at her with her face distorted by her fear for her life. "ANSWER ME!" She bellowed and shakes her gun violently, causing Medea to flinch involuntarily.

"I…I…I killed them…" Medea finally tumbled the words out of her mouth, but she knew it was a mistake the moment she did.

Saber snarled as her eyes narrowed deeper. She slides back the top of her Glock, preparing to fire a bullet through her target's forehead. With one last gulp, Medea shuts her eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable.

"Stop!"

Saber widens her eyes in shock with her mouth agape. She lowers her gun and turned to see Chulainn standing behind her, now freed from the ropes and off from the chair. Medea snaps her eyes open, surprised that her meeting with death had been delayed.

"Lancer…" Saber uttered before her eyes narrowed again. "What did you just say?"

"I said…stop." Chulainn said.

"Have you gone mad?!" Saber yelled at him.

"Well, my last cup of alcohol was three hours ago, so no. I'm perfectly sane right now." Chulainn responded. "So I meant what I said, boss. Please don't kill her."

"Why the fuck not?!" Saber roared, pointing her Glock 17 at Medea again, causing her to let out a cry of fear. "This woman _killed_ the people she kidnapped! She's a god damn murderer!"

"Yes, it's true she is a murderer. There's no denying that. But she had her reasons why she became like that." Chulainn said firmly.

"Lancer, this is not the time to discuss this bullshit! Our job is to find the missing people, and this fucker killed them! She killed those men mercilessly, causing grief to the people who are related to them and still waiting for their return. Now, they'll never find peace because of this monster." Saber turned back to Medea and shot a cold, menacing glare at her. "And that is why death is the proper punishment for her. Plain and simple."

"Boss, that's enough!" Yukari grabs Saber by the back of her shoulder and turned her around. The leader widens her eyes in surprise as she finds herself staring at Yukari, seeing the solemn frown on her face and unable to spot a single ounce of fear within her.

"Caster…" Saber snarled. "Don't…get…in my way."

"No." Yukari said flatly. "I will not let you kill her. I hope we wouldn't resort to killing people who can't fight back, and I standby what I've said before. Berserker had taken her down and she's completely defenseless now. There's no need to add killing into this."

Saber did not reply as she continued glaring at Yukari, breathing heavily as she quivered in rage.

"If you hate me right now because I'm stopping you from what you want to do, go ahead." Yukari said solemnly. "I already know how it feels like to be hated by others."

Saber turned to Rin. "Rider, aren't you going to stop her?!" She yelled at her.

"Sorry boss. I said I joined you because I wanted Matou Industries to pay for what they did. But I didn't want to become an insane killer in the process." Rin said, also giving her boss a solemn frown.

"Assassin!" Saber turned her gaze to her second-in-command.

Ricky reached into his pocket, but he looked down when he couldn't feel anything inside. He turned back to Saber and frowned apologetically. "Sorry boss, I left my revolver in the SUV."

"How the fuck can you leave your gun in our vehicle?" Saber scolded him.

"Sorry." Ricky apologized again.

Saber then turned to Illya and Shirou, who both lower their heads and remain silent. She turned back to Medea, who is still staring back at her with her eyes wide and shaking in horror. After a few more seconds of silence, Saber groaned in exasperation before putting away her Glock 17 pistol.

"Fuck this. I've lost my mood." She muttered. She hurriedly walks out of the room, leaving everyone else behind.

Chulainn turns to Ricky and lifts up the back of his shirt, revealing his .44 Magnum revolver placed through his pants.

"You got balls lying to our boss." Chulainn said to Ricky.

"I didn't want to, but I can't make her more angrier than she already is." Ricky said to him.

Chulainn smiled weakly at him as he releases his grip of his shirt. "Thanks." He said.

"You're welcome." Ricky responded.

Everyone in the room turn to Medea when she broke down and sobbed in inconsolable grief. As she hung her head in guilt and shame, tears were cascading down the sides of her face.

"I…I just…" Medea sniffled as she wipes off the tears from her eyes. But fresh, new tears were quickly formed inside them afterwards. "I just wanted to…" She took a hard gulp before she continued, "To find someone…who can replace him…so that…I can finally start over…"

Ricky, Chulainn, Illya, Shirou, Rin and Yukari could only stare back at Medea wordlessly as she continued weeping and sobbing in despair.

Eventually, Illya pulls out a pair of handcuffs and hands it to Chulainn. After taking the cuffs from her hands, Chulainn turns back to Medea. "And I wish we never had to do this to you." He said with regret.

\----

It is now 4 in the morning, and although the team returned to their boat from France two hours ago, they still are unable to get some rest. Saber is in her room, busy making her report to Kiritsugu while Rin, Shirou and Illya are currently in the dining area, setting up the laptop to do, in Illya's words, 'something essential.'

Meanwhile, Chulainn stood at the port of the boat, blankly staring out into the night sky. The thoughts of Medea still linger inside his mind. He stood there, pondering if there was anything he could have done to help her. He knows from his time with her that she can be a nice person and she was a talented artist. But sadly, she was also a murderer hiding behind a mask. Despite knowing that Souichirou had died, he still wondered what really happened between him and Medea. Was that the reason that made Medea the way she become? He lets out a heavy sigh. Things are so complicated as he thought about her.

His thoughts were soon interrupted when he heard footsteps. He turned around and sees Ricky and Yukari walking over to him.

"Are you alright?" Yukari asked Chulainn.

"No." Chulainn shakes his head. "Of course not. I know Medea was a killer…but I still wonder what made her do those things. And why does this 'Souichirou' she mentioned is so important to her?"

When he and Yukari stood in front of him, Ricky places his hand on his shoulder. He then gestured Chulainn to follow him and Yukari back into the interior of the boat. "Come, there's something we want to show you."

\----

As Ricky, Yukari and Chulainn walk down the stairs, they see Illya and Shirou looking up at them as they stood behind Rin, who is still gazing at the laptop in front of her and placed on the dining table.

"This hard drive you found at Medea's bedroom is a treasure trove of medical files and journal entries, Chulainn." Illya said.

"It turns out Medea was a former patient at a psychiatric ward." Shirou explained. "In an interview conducted by her doctor, she said that she lost her sanity after a breakup with her boyfriend which affected her relationships with her family and friends. But that is only a scratch on the surface."

"The drive also contained diary video entries she made during her youth." Rin added as she finally looked up. "According to the videos she made, it turns out she endured several brutal assaults from an abusive boyfriend named Atrum Galliasta and she experienced her first true love with an older man named Souichirou Kuzuki." Chulainn widened his eyes as soon as the name was mentioned. "Would you like to see the videos? Perhaps it will pique your interest."

Chulainn, Ricky and Yukari walk over to their sides and look at the screen of the laptop. On it was a video player that shows Medea sitting on her bed while holding up a camcorder in front of her face. There was a noticeable bruise on her left cheek. Rin clicks on the mouse and plays the video.

_"Hey diary, it's me." Medea said morosely to her camcorder. "If you're wondering how I got hurt…Atrum is being an ass to me again." She sniffled. "He just went ballistic and hit me outside of the school just because he saw me talking to Jason in class. It's ridiculous." She turned her head away and wipe off the tears from her already tearstained eyes. She continued as she looked back at her camcorder, "Sometimes…I wish I can go back in time and never met that son of a bitch."_

When the video ended, Rin closes it and brings up another. This time, the screen shows Medea having an unmistakable grin plastered on her face.

_"Hello diary." Medea squealed as she waved her hand happily at her camcorder. "It's me. There's a lot to talk about! Today, my friends and I went to a nightclub. They were trying to cheer me up because I was still traumatized by Atrum's treatment towards me the other day." Medea's smile flipped into a worried frown. "They suggest I should file a restraining order against him but…" She smiled back at her camcorder, jolting herself out of her bad memories. "Anyways, at the nightclub, we started dancing and I felt kind of embarrassed at first because I wasn't a good dancer." She chuckled. "But suddenly…this man came up to me and we danced the night away. It was…surreal for me to say the least. But…this man I danced with…he was so nice…so friendly…so generous…I immediately became interested in him, and I asked for his number. He told me we should hang out again. I was so shy back then…but I'm glad I had the courage to ask his number."_

Rin sighed as the video ended. She closes it and brings up another video log. The screen shows Medea, once again smiling at her camcorder.

_As the video began, Medea giggled as she waved her hand. "Hey diary, it's me again! I just finished my second meeting with this man. He revealed to me his name is Souichirou Kuzuki. He was originally from Japan, but later moved here to France to work as an art teacher in a local school here in Paris. I can't believe he actually has a strong interest in art like I do. What a coincidence! I told him I was a student in an art school and we both laughed. I told him I done some paintings of my own and he asked me if I can bring him to my home tomorrow and let him see my works. Of course, I had to say 'yes'. I'm so nervous. I'm actually bringing someone into my home!"_

Ricky and Chulainn couldn't help but smile. They felt glad to know that Medea actually had a relationship at some point in her life. Rin closes the video when it ended. She brought up another one and this time, the start of the video shows Medea and a black-haired muscular man, wearing glasses, a black suit and black pants.

_"Hello diary! Here he is!" Medea said merrily as she gestures to the stoic man sitting next to her. "This is Souichirou Kuzuki, the man I've been talking to you about!"_

_"Hello." Souichirou simply said as he holds up his hand._

_"I brought him here into my home today to let him see my paintings. What do you think of them, Souichirou?"_

_"I like them. I think her works are very beautiful and interesting." Souichirou said. Although his tone was flat and lacks emotion, his comments sound very positive which brought joy to Medea._

_"Thank you so much!" Medea suddenly wrap an arm around him. Souichirou remained expressionless, completely unsurprised by Medea's sudden gesture. "I'm so happy that you loved my work!" She smiled warmly as she turns back to her camcorder. "Isn't he amazing?"_

"Sadly, her life went downhill shortly afterwards." Rin said dejectedly. Ricky and Chulainn widen their eyes. She closes the video and brought up the next. She played it and the tone was a complete opposite of the last video.

_Medea sniffled as tears poured down her cheeks unchecked. "It's…I-I-It's Atrum again. You won't…" She paused to take a gulp. "You won't believe what he did." She sniffled again. "He sent someone to spy on me on the night I brought Souichirou to my home. The guy then somehow able to take a video and snap some photos of me and Souichirou in my home and room. I don't know how. And then today, he showed the photos to everyone at school…making lies about me that I'm a hag for having a relationship with someone who is ten years older than me. I tried telling them that it's bullshit…but they wouldn't trust me…and then…Atrum said to me…he did it to teach me a lesson…for hanging out with someone else. What's even worse…I tried talking to Souichirou about this, hoping he would cheer me up but…when I met him, he told me that someone warned him over the phone that I was a cheater. I'm constantly going over to man to man, flirting and forming relations for my own personal amusement. It's got to be Atrum. It had to be! I tried to defend myself. But he was so frustrated, confused whether to still put his trust in me or not…he wouldn't listen to a single word I said to him." Medea furiously fought back the urge to cry, even though a few tears managed to pour out of her eyes and trickle down her cheeks. "I…I broke his heart…it's awful…"_

Rin stops the video when she heard Yukari sniffling as she sat beside her. She turned to her right and sees tears welling up in her eyes as Yukari places her hands over her mouth. Illya, who stood behind Yukari, gave her a pat on her back. Rin turns back to the laptop and closes the video. She brought up the next entry and played it.

_"Souichirou…he's dead…" Medea struggled to whimper between her sobs. "I heard news that…h-h-he got into an accident…at the seventh arrondissement. The star of my sky…is gone…" She tried to suppress her sobs, but it was no use. Within moments, she wailed in absolute despondency. "He's gone! HE'S GOOONNNEEE!"_

Rin stops the video and gave herself and everyone present a moment to take a breather. She glanced at Ricky, Chulainn and Shirou on her right, who are all silent and equally look mournful with downcast eyes.

Chulainn looks back at Rin and gestured her to continue playing. She closes the current video and brought up the next entry. She clicks on the mouse and plays it.

_"I killed him. I killed that bastard Atrum once and for all. How did I do it, you wonder?" Medea paused for a moment to take a gulp. "I walked up to him…say that I'm sorry for going out with another man…he actually listened and forgive me and we both go to the bar together. When we're over there…I drugged his drink." Suddenly, Medea burst out a chuckle. "While he was asleep, I placed him at the back of my car…I drove off…and take him to an abandoned factory which was once belonged to my father-in-law. Yeah, I guess I never told you about him until now. He used to own a sawmill outside the city limits of Paris but anyway…I placed Atrum on the table and tied him up. As he woke up, I was turning on the buzz saw. And slowly…I cut that son of a bitch up…limb by limb…And you know what?" Medea's teeth broke out into a wide, malicious grin. "It felt good…it really…felt…good. I…I don't know why but…I really enjoyed the screams he makes whenever I press the saw through his skin, flesh and bones." Medea flashes a quick smirk at the camcorder. "Perhaps I'm a natural born killer."_

Rin closes the video and brought up the next entry, which is also the last of the video logs.

_"Hey diary." Medea greeted, staring back dully at her camcorder. "This may be my last entry to you. Ever. I'm admitting myself to a mental ward today." She sniffled as she tried to hold back a violent sob. "The reason why is because…I just don't have anyone to interact anymore. Souichirou is dead…I stopped communicating with my friends…Even Atrum is gone too…and…I don't know. Every time I still think of Souichirou, I'm only reminded of Atrum. And every time I think of Atrum…I think of killing someone. But I don't want that. Atrum needs to die…but I don't want to become a monster…Souichirou certainly wouldn't want me to be one…but he's gone…there's nothing that can stop me from becoming one…That's why I left school…stop making contact with everyone…actually anyone in general…" She paused for a moment to wipe off some tears that managed to escape from her baggy eyes._

_"How I…How I wish…How I wish I can find someone like Souichirou again. Someone who likes my art…and shares the same interests…" Medea's voice began to croak as she felt her heart aching and being unable to suppress her grief any longer._

_"I'm sorry Souichirou!" Medea wailed as she is consumed by utter anguish and despair. "I'm so sorry!"_

Not wanting to surround themselves in an air of melancholy any longer, Rin stops the video and closes the laptop.

"Considering she went on a killing spree after her time in the asylum, she clearly never fully recovered." Shirou said grimly. Chulainn and Ricky silently lower their heads, unable to speak as they are consumed by grief and sorrow over what they have seen.

"Like I said," Yukari said barely above a whisper as she wipes off the tears from her eyes and cheeks. "Even the most insane people have backstories that made them who they are."

Illya quietly gets up from her chair and goes over to the refrigerator. She took out some cans of beer before closing it. She goes back to the table and place the cans in front of her teammates, leaving one for herself.

Everyone leans over and each grab a can. They open the cans and hold them up. No one utter a word as they silently took a sip of their drinks.

\----

_**7 AM…** _

"Considering the way you usually deal with criminals in past missions, I'm surprised this time, you and your team actually kept the kidnapper alive and brought her to the authorities." Kiritsugu said.

"Yeah, we did." Saber said.

"Maiya and I received word from Simone Lacroix that Medea is now cooperating with the French National Police in locating the bodies of her victims where she had buried them." Kiritsugu expounded. "She will also face the proper punishment for her crimes. Simone was upset to learn that her husband is dead, but at least she can still rest easy, knowing that his killer had been brought to justice. Her payment will be transferred to your account by tomorrow. That is all."

Saber responded to her superior with a solemn nod. After Kiritsugu signed off from their conversation, Saber leans forward to her desk and closes her laptop. As soon as she did, there is a knock on the door.

"Come in." She said. Ricky opens the door and enters her room.

"You wanted to see me?" He asked as he closes the door behind him.

"Yes." Saber said flatly as she takes out her box of cigarettes and opens it. He walks over to the front of her desk as she takes out a cigarette and inserts it through her lips. She placed the box on the desk and takes out her lighter from underneath her suit. "You're the only person whom I can trust to discuss this with you. But I have a confession to make."

"What is it?" Ricky asked in concern.

Saber's face distorts into a scowl. "I'm starting to regret bringing in Miss Yukino. In fact, I'm thinking of expelling Chulainn and Rin as well." She said before lighting up her cigarette.

Ricky widens his eyes in shock. "Why?" He asked incredulously.

After putting down her lighter on the desk, Saber pulls out her cigarette and blows out the smoke before responding to her second-in-command, "Because they aren't people who I can work alongside with."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be my last update for this story of 2017. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you all again in 2018!


	6. Great Sandy Desert, Part 1

_**2 Years Ago…** _

Sergeant Arturia Pendragon walks over to the Serpentine River at Hyde Park. She was told by an anonymous caller to go over there and meet her. She spotted a dark-skinned woman sitting on a wooden bench by the river. Taking a deep breath, she casually walks over to her.

"Hello? Are you Candace Miller?" Arturia asked.

The woman turns around and saw Arturia standing beside her. She got up and replied, "Yes ma'am. Are you Arturia Pendragon?"

"The officer whom you talked to in the hotline, yes." Arturia nodded. "You said that you saw Mariah Dillard murdered your neighbor Cornell Stokes right in front of you. Can you tell me more?"

Candace lowers her eyes and took a hard gulp. "If I tell you, can you promise me that I'll be protected?"

"You have my word." Arturia vowed with a solemn nod. "Now tell me what happened. What were you doing that moment and how did she murdered him?"

Candace looked around to make sure nobody is watching them. After making sure the coast is clear, she gestures Arturia to follow her. The two women walk over to the nearest tree. Candace turned around and spoke barely above a whisper to Arturia, "I was coming home after a long day of work. I entered the home and began opening the windows. When I opened the window in my living room however, I saw two guys in black hoods inside my neighbor's home at the other side of the road. I kneel down and hide beneath the window…saw the entire thing…saw them stomping their feet on the ground." Candace paused for a moment as she bites down on her lower lip.

"What happen next?" Arturia inquired.

After regaining her ability to speak, Candace continued, "And then…there was a third person also covering their face with a black hood. They entered Cornell's home and everything was quiet for a while…It was too damn quiet. Then probably about, ten minutes later, the three guys finally leave his home. I don't know how two of them look like, but one had her face shown before she put back her hood. I was shocked. It was actually parliament member Mariah Dillard. I was wondering to myself, what was she doing in my neighbor's home? After Mariah and the two men leave the neighborhood, I went inside my neighbor's home as the door was left opened. I couldn't believe what I saw lying on the floor in his living room…" Arturia noticed fresh tears appearing in Candace's eyes. "It was Cornell…and he was dead…with multiple stab wounds on his body…and a huge one on his forehead."

Candace places her hands over her mouth and lowers her head as her body trembled. Arturia gently places her hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, Candace. I'm glad you told me what you saw." Arturia whispered to her soothingly. "And I promise you, I will protect you. And with your help, we will bring Mariah Dillard to Justice."

\----

Saber opened her eyes, finding herself staring at the ceiling of her own bedroom. She groans as she rose up from her bed. Her long blonde hair freely hung down to her upper back as she does.

"That damn dream…again." She murmured to herself as she rubs her forehead. She removes the sheets and gets up from her bed. She walks over to the right side of her room and grabs her suit and pants which she hang on the wall by a clothes hanger and hook since last night. After grabbing her clothes, she makes her way out of her room and heads to the bathroom.

After taking a shower, Saber proceeds to put on her suit and pants. She walks over to the mirror cabinet to brush her teeth and combs her hair. She grabs her tie which she hung at the bottom of a nearby towel rack and puts it around her collar. Finally, she opens the cabinet to grab her ribbon. After closing the cabinet, she lowers her head, wraps up her long blonde hair and ties it into a ponytail with her ribbon. After letting down her arms, she opens her eyes and stares at the mirror, seeing her younger self dressed in a police uniform.

"Tch." Saber clucked, narrowing her eyes as she gazed at her younger self. After staring at it for a few more seconds, she turned and makes her way out of the bathroom.

\----

Saber, Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Chulainn, Illya and Yukari quietly ate their breakfast. The leader didn't look or spoke to any of her fellow teammates and it had been like this for the last two days ever since that night at Bordeaux. The others felt uneasy to speak up, unsure if Saber will stay like this or get angry if they say a word to her.

After finishing her breakfast, Saber quietly grabs her plate and walks over to the sink to wash it. Afterwards, she takes out her box of cigarettes and heads over to the stairs, making her way out of the room.

Yukari frowned as she watched her boss walked off. Not wanting this to go on furthermore, she decided to get up from her chair and follow Saber.

\----

Upon entering outside, Yukari finds Saber standing at the starboard, puffing a cigarette. Saber turned her head to the side to see Yukari walking over to her from behind.

"What do you want?" Saber asked flatly.

"Admit it. You're still angry over what happen that night at France." Yukari said.

"Why the fuck do you care?" Saber responded.

"I care because you're making everyone uncomfortable right now."

Saber snorted as she turns around and glared at Yukari. "Who the fuck do you think you are, talking to me like that?! Besides, all of this is happening because you don't have the fucking guts to kill that murdering scumbag."

"It's more rewarding when you apprehend someone and take them to the authorities than killing them in cold blood." Yukari retorted.

"I'm your leader for God's sake, so you do exactly what I do!" Saber barked, jabbing a finger at her.

"And you need to accept the fact that even though we're in the same team, every one of us is still going to have opinions of our own!" Yukari yelled back.

What follows is a moment of intense silence between the two.

"Get the fuck out of my sight." Saber said icily. Yukari turned around and walks her way back into the interior of the yacht.

Saber snarled in frustration before putting the cigarette back into her mouth. She cannot deny that what Yukari said is true. However, she had tried that too many times before in the past. From her experience, no matter how bad and dangerous criminals are, it will always be the court who decides their fate. Sadly, sometimes they will only receive light sentences or go free, mostly thanks to scumbag lawyers. And what that happens; you just have to live with it. Live with the pain and grievance they have caused upon you while they are only given a slap on the wrist or walk away completely unpunished. When she is done dwelling in her thoughts, Saber removes the cigarette from her mouth and blows out the smoke.

_'Sorry Miss Yukino. But leaving people like them out there would be worse.'_

\----

After everyone had finished their breakfast, they wash their plates and head to their respective workplaces. But Yukari remained in the dining area and sat at the table, contemplating on what happened between her and Saber since the night they handed Medea to the authorities. The only person who is present in the main room with her is Illya, who is humming merrily as she sat at her working table, pouring gunpowder into an empty bullet shell. She then places it onto a plastic tray which contains several other bullet shells she had filled up earlier.

Seeing that she has filled up the entire tray, Illya shifts over to her reloading press which is installed on the right corner of her working table. She grabs her tray of bullet shells and began the process in installing the projectiles onto every one of them.

Just as she began, Saber walks down the stairs and reenters the yacht's main room.

"Hello boss." Illya glanced at Saber and briefly waves her hand at her before turning back to her work.

"Hey." Saber responded flatly. She glanced at Yukari before heading her way to her own room.

After hearing Saber closing the door, Illya momentarily stops her work and turns to Yukari. "C'mon, Miss Yukino. Don't let the boss get to ya."

Yukari lets out a sigh and looks up at Illya. Illya tilts her head to the side and flashes a smile at her. "By the way, I really respect you, standing up to Saber like that. You were pretty badass." She said.

Yukari chuckled. "Arigatou."

"I know what you did piss her off but give her some time. She'll eventually get over it." Illya said, straightening her head and twirling with her hair.

"How do you know? I don't think your boss is the kind of person who will get over things that easily."

"True. She is usually cold and violent, but at times, she still has a good heart. I still vividly remember the day she took me and Shirou into the team." Illya's eyes softened as she places her hands on her lap. "I was a little scared when I first met her, mainly because I was still trying to cope with my mental health at the time, but Saber warmly greeted and welcomed me with open arms. She appreciates my talents as an inventor and every now and then, she would give me a pat on either my back or my shoulder."

"Is that so?" Yukari said, sounding intrigued as she widens her eyes.

Illya nods her head. "I know I may sound weird when I explain all of that, but Saber does care for the people around her. So for now, just give her some space and time to cool down."

\----

Saber slouches on her chair in her office. With a deep frown, she stares back at her boss on the screen of her laptop.

"You sure look spry this morning." Kiritsugu jested.

"It's nothing, boss." Saber replied flatly. "Just in a bad mood."

"Which is nothing new to me." Kiritsugu shrugged. "Anyways, I got a new mission for you and your team. This is a request from the Western Australian Police Force. They need our help in dealing with a highly dangerous child kidnapper named Uryu Ryunosuke. Apparently, he is a professional in his job. According to some reports, he managed to kidnap over 30 children within just three months back in Japan. He eventually got arrested but after a mysterious bombing at his prison, he escaped to Western Australia and many reports of missing children have been happening throughout the state since. The police managed to arrest an accomplice of him who confessed that he is hiding in the Great Sandy Desert. The police sent an entire squad to go after him, but shockingly, they were completely wiped out during their mission."

"How can a lone child kidnapper be able to take out an entire squad of police officers?" Saber asked, leaning forward and placing her arms on the desk.

"You're going to find out the answer yourselves." Kiritsugu replied solemnly. "The Western Australian Police decided to request help from us and I'm letting you and your team handle this mission. Find Uryu Ryunosuke and rescue the kidnapped children. He was able to wipe out an entire police squad, so don't underestimate him."

When he finished, the screen goes black and Saber closes her laptop.

\----

Inside a small office room, a young orange-haired Japanese man is talking on the cellphone as he lies back on one side of a sofa. He is dressed in a long sleeved purple jacket with a white shirt underneath, a light gray belt with a square buckle, purple pants and black shoes.

"Is the manufacturing of chemical missiles going smoothly, Ryunosuke?"

"Absolutely, Kotomine-san. No worries at all." Ryunosuke replied. "The workers are doing a swell job without any problems and delays."

"Funny. I was told by my informants that a squad of Western Australian Police went into the Great Sandy Desert to conduct a search for you because you let one of our mercenaries get arrested in Perth and confess to them your hiding location!" Kirei scoffed.

"Relax, Kotomine-san. At least me and your mercenaries wiped out the entire search party." Ryunosuke said, tilting his head to the side with a smirk. "Besides, we're already working on the process in moving the missiles and ourselves to a new perfect hideout which your men found in the Great Victoria for me. By the time they send out another search party and finds this place, we would be long gone."

Uryu could hear Kirei grumbling at the other side. "Just continue manufacturing the missiles and don't get yourselves in trouble again. We helped you escape from prison because we find you worthy for the job, but Mr. Matou will not show mercy towards you the next time you screw up. And you better vividly remember this. You may have full command of our mercenaries, but you're still working for us."

Uryu scowled when he heard the line being cut off. He turns off his phone and tosses it onto the table in front of him. He turned his head and sees a small brown-haired boy sitting on the other side of the sofa with his mouth gagged with a towel and his hands tied behind his back with ropes. Uryu crosses his legs and wraps an arm around the boy. "Now then, where were we?"

The boy could only sob in horror as a large twisted grin takes form on Uryu's face.

\----

_**Cape Lambert, Western Australia** _

When the group arrived at Cape Lambert, they make their way to one of the warehouses. Inside the warehouse was a lone black jeep, courtesy of Kiritsugu and Maiya. Everyone got inside with Rin taking the driver seat, Saber getting on the passenger seat and the others sitting at the back.

After everyone has settled inside, Rin starts the jeep and drives off. As they make their way to the Great Sandy Desert, Saber turns on the jeep's satnav. The screen shows both their current location and the last known location of the police squad that was wiped out by Ryunosuke.

Rin glances at the screen to see how far they are from their location before turning back to the road. "We should reach there within an hour and ten minutes." She said to everyone.

"Good." Saber said, already drawing out her Glocks and placing them on her lap. "And remember…"

She turned her head around and gave everyone a dark glare. "If _anyone_ interferes and questions me again, I will not hold back."

Ricky, Chulainn, Shirou, and Illya solemnly nod their heads. Yukari hesitated for a moment before she nods her head as well. Saber glanced at Rin, who look back at her nervously. She took a gulp before nodding her head in response. Saber turns back to her front and look into the sky.

As she sat there staring off into space, she began dreaming of days gone by.

\----

_**2 Years Ago…** _

"Oh? Are you really sure this person can help us prove that Mariah Dillard killed Cornell Stokes?" A muscular man with swept back light brown hair and goatee asked Arturia as they sat together at his cubicle in the City of London Police headquarters. He wore a pair of sunglasses and dressed in a long-sleeved black jacket with an orange shirt underneath, a black belt, black pants and black boots.

"Yes Inspector Sisigou. I believed every word she says." Arturia said to her superior. "Sir, please. We have to put her under police custody right away. This person may be our only hope in proving that Mariah Dillard has committed murder."

"I understand but because there isn't enough compelling evidence at the crime scene to prove that Mariah was involved, a testimony from an eyewitness isn't enough to prove to the court-"

"Screw the court! What matters is that we have a person who witnessed the murder!" Arturia shouted. "Let's bring the witness in now and-"

"Sergeant Pendragon!" Kairi Sisigou said firmly. "I implore you not to lose control of yourself while you're in uniform."

As soon as her superior raised his voice, Arturia's rage vanished in an instant. The officer sighed and nods her head. "Yes sir." She said calmly.

"Like I said, Sergeant, until we can find strong evidence that Mariah set foot in the victim's home and any trace of her DNA on his body, an eyewitness' testimony isn't strong enough to prove to the court that she is behind the murder."

"But sir…by the time we find evidence, it's too late. The perpetrator would have already made their move, and Justice won't be served at all." Arturia said. "I have seen so many criminals, clearly in the wrong, and yet they either receive light sentences or go scot-free. They will never change and bear guilt and shame for their crimes if they are treated like this. It's like nowadays, Justice doesn't come from what civilians know, it's what their lawyers can prove in court. Back in police academy, the instructors keep telling us 'When there's a problem, respond immediately.' Why aren't we doing that?"

Kairi flashes a small smirk at Arturia. "You are a fast learner, Arturia. Make no mistake; I share your desire to bring people who violated the law to Justice. However, we are just loyal members of the police force, not judge, jury or executioner. Even we have to obey our own laws. Our job is to find solid evidence to back up a person's actions, and until then, we can't do anything. That's how things work."

Arturia stared wordlessly at Kairi for a moment before she leans back on her chair and nods her head. "Understood, sir." She said.

"You're dismissed." Kairi said.

\----

_**Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia** _

"We're here, boss." Rin said. Saber woke up, realizing that she had fallen asleep during their journey. She turned to Rin as she stops the jeep. Saber then turns to the handle and opens the door.

Everybody gets out the vehicle and look around the area. Several damaged and blackened police vehicles lay around the sand, as well as burnt doors, hoods, wheel rims and car bumpers that had been separated from where they were originally attached to.

Yukari flinched as she analyzed the area. The place was eerily silent and sends chills down her spine. While Rin places a hand on her back to comfort her, Shirou, Ricky and Saber walk over to a nearby damaged police jeep. They look down at the damaged front door that had been separated from the vehicle. Shirou kneels down and slowly turns the door around. The three see a huge hole on it that almost covers the entire lower section of the door.

"The diameter and radius of this hole…is definitely the work of a grenade launcher." Shirou said solemnly.

"How the hell does an average child kidnapper have possession of a grenade launcher?" Ricky frowned.

"He didn't." Saber shakes her head. "He had outside help."

"Hey guys! Lancer and I found someone!" Everyone turn around and see Illya waving at them. They see Chulainn pulling someone out from another damaged police jeep behind her. Saber, Ricky, Shirou, Yukari and Rin quickly run over to them just as Chulainn laid the person on the sand. The person is a man in his 30s, dressed in a tattered police uniform and pants. The entire right side of his face and arm are burnt and his eyes flittered dangerously.

Everyone gathered and kneel around the injured police officer.

"Sir, what happened?" Saber asked the officer.

The officer slowly turned his head to her and tried to groan. "It…It came…out of nowhere…" He took a deep breath before continuing, "We t-thought…we were after…o-one guy…b-b-b-but suddenly…masked men on bikes…came out of nowhere…and s-shot at us…w-w-with explosives…"

"Masked men." Ricky murmured.

"Mercenaries." Saber scowled. "Where's the location of Ryunosuke's hideout?"

The officer slowly lifted his hand up. Everybody watched him point his finger at the glove box of his jeep. Then, his hand slumped onto the ground. Everyone look down and sees the officer turning his head to the side and laid there motionlessly. He was dead.

As Illya gets up and goes over to the glove box to open it, everybody else stared down solemnly at the dead officer. Saber closes her eyes and lets out a sigh before she gently closes the officer's eyelids, letting him rest in peace.

When Illya opened the glove box, she found a notebook. She grabs it and flips the cover, seeing two different numbers. She looks up at her fellow mercenaries and asked them, "Someone, give me the map of Great Sandy."

The others stood up and walk over to Illya. Saber takes out her map from underneath her suit and hands it over to her. Illya takes the map and goes over to the still intact hood of the police jeep. She unfolds the map and lays it and the notebook on the hood as the others stood behind her.

Within a few seconds, Illya spots and lands her finger on the exact spot on the map which the coordinates are written on the notebook.

"Here. There's the location of Ryunosuke's hideout." Illya said. As soon as she removes her fingers, Rin quickly marks an 'X' on the spot with her marker.

"Good. Let's head over there now." Saber said darkly. Everybody turned and see the ugly scowl on her face. She jabs her finger at her teammates as she raised her voice. "And none of you are going to stop me from killing this officer-killing son of a bitch."

\----

_**Thirty Minutes Later…** _

Rin stopped the jeep when they arrived at their destination. Everyone gets out of the vehicle and see a large, towering flat mountain on top of a hill in the distance.

Shirou gets out his sniper rifle and looks through the scope of his weapon. He spots four masked men, all dressed in dark brown ski masks, desert yellow helmets and uniforms, brown gloves and boots and armed with AK-47 rifles, guarding a pair of large metal sliding doors.

"There are four guards, all dressed in brown and desert yellow. This is definitely Ryunosuke's hideout." Shirou said, lowering his rifle.

"Alright guys." Saber withdraws her Glocks. "Here's the plan-"

"ACK!" Ricky suddenly shouted in agony. The others turn around and see Ricky wincing in pain as he turns his head to his left shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Saber asked her second-in-command.

"This thing hit me in the shoulder!" Ricky replied as he sees a dart stabbed through the top of his left shoulder. Rin walks over and pulls the dart out from Ricky's shoulder, causing him to let out another cry of pain. She briefly examines the dart before she gasps and widens her eyes.

Before she could utter a single word, another tranquilizer dart came out of nowhere and shot Rin on her left thigh, making her scream in pain. Soon after, tranquilizer darts also shot into Shirou's left lower arm, the back of Illya's neck, Chulainn's back and Yukari's right shoulder.

Saber whirled about and watch in surprise and horror as all her teammates roll their eyes back and slump to the ground.

"Guys!" Saber shouted. Suddenly, she gasped and widens her eyes as a tranquilizer dart stabbed through the side of her right thigh. She bends over and wraps her hands around her thigh. She tried to stay awake but the effects of the dart are overwhelming her senses. Eventually, she too rolls her eyes back as she slumps onto the ground with her face lying down.

As Saber tries to keep her eyes open, she groggily lifts her head up when she heard footsteps. She could barely see Uryu casually walking up to her. He kneels down and clucked disapprovingly at her.

"Tch, tch, tch. " Uryu said to his enemy. "You have no idea what you have gotten yourself into." He lets out a cruel laugh as Saber is unable to respond to him.

"God…dammit…" That was all Saber could utter before she finally passes out.


	7. Great Sandy Desert, Part 2

**_2 Years Ago…_ **

Arturia stood outside of the interrogation room. She looked through the window, gazing at a dark-skinned woman with curly black hair and dressed in a purple suit and dress who is sitting inside and behind a desk.

The door behind her opened. Arturia turned her head and see Kairi walking over to her side.

"Inspector." Arturia said with a solemn nod.

"Sergeant, why did you bring Miss Dillard here?" Kairi inquired as he inserts his hands into his pockets.

"Because I'm going to make her confess that she is behind the murder of Cornell Stokes." Arturia replied.

"What?" Kairi yelled as he turned to her.

"Sir, I know we still need evidence to take her in. But at least we still have Candace Miller. I've already sent Mordred to pick her up from her home and bring her here to the station." Arturia said.

"Arturia, we have already discussed this!" Kairi berated her. "We cannot bring any witnesses into police custody until we obtained solid evidence!"

"Candace _is_ our solid evidence!" Arturia protested. "Inspector Sisigou, once we bring her to the station, I swear…we can take Mariah Dillard down once and for all."

Suddenly, Arturia's phone rang. She quickly takes it out from her pocket and answers it. "Hello?"

"Sergeant Pendragon…" Mordred spoke at the other side of line. "You're not going to believe this…"

Arturia widens her eyes with her mouth agape, immediately feeling anxious upon hearing the horrified tone of Mordred's voice. "What is it?"

"Candace Miller is dead, at an alleyway in Great Portland Street."

Arturia's jaw plummeted upon hearing her name. "What?!" She yelled in horror.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked with his brows furrowed.

"She had a hole through the side of her head." Mordred said to Arturia. "We're still investigating what type of bullet-"

Arturia shuts off her phone and tosses it onto the floor. Kairi watched as Arturia goes over to the wall and furiously slams her fist against it.

"Sergeant Pendragon, what is going on here?! Answer me!" Kairi demanded.

Unable to control her anger and frustration any longer, Saber swiftly turns her head to the door and heads straight into the interrogation room. She stood in front of Mariah and slams her hands onto the desk.

"YOU GOD DAMN BITCH!" Arturia roared at Mariah in rage.

"Arturia!" Kairi yelled in alarm as he storms into the room.

Mariah remained calm as she casually strokes her hair. "Ma'am please, calm down. I have no idea-"

"DON'T BULLSHIT ME! You did something to Candace Miller, did you?!" Arturia screamed, jabbing a finger at her accusingly.

"Watch your mouth, ma'am. You're an officer for God's sake." Mariah chuckled as she cracks a smile.

"Arturia, that's enough!" Kairi yelled again.

Completely ignoring her superior, Arturia slams her hands on the desk again as she bellowed at Mariah, "You knew Candace witnessed you murdering Cornell Stokes and now, you killed her too, did you?!"

Mariah laughed as she clutches the sides of her stomach. "Seriously?! Why would I-"

"Don't you dare laugh, you f-"

"ENOUGH!" Kairi bellowed at Arturia. The officer fell silent and turned to her superior. She widens her eyes in shock. Never in her life had she seen Kairi looking this livid at her.

"Officers," Mariah spoke rather condescendingly. "From what I understand, you guys just brought me here to the station with absolutely no evidence to back up your…baseless claims that Cornell Stokes was murdered by me and now, your fellow officer here is throwing a temper tantrum and mindlessly shouting…ridiculous allegations at me. For your information, I truly am devastated over the death of Cornell Stokes. He was my cousin after all and I am still coping with the death of a member in my family. And yet, one of your officers has the audacity to accuse me, a member of the parliament, to have committed murder on one of my own relatives."

Before Arturia could reply, Kairi quickly raised his hand in front of her face, allowing Mariah to continue. "And if that wasn't enough, she is now also accusing me of murdering another person, this…Candace Miller, whom I have absolutely no idea who she is at all. Are you all intentionally wasting my precious time away?"

"We truly am sorry, ma'am." Kairi replied. Arturia drops her jaw in shock. "I'm sorry for the reckless behavior of one of my subordinates."

"If you have absolutely nothing to present to me, may I please go now?" Mariah asked.

"Yes." Kairi nodded. "We're done."

"But-" Arturia tried to speak, but Kairi quickly cuts her off by raising his voice.

" _I said_...We're done."

"Good. Thank you very much." Mariah said to Kairi gratefully. "Since you are able to understand the situation here, I'm willing to forgive your subordinate here and pretend that none of this has ever happened today. You're lucky that as a government official, I have absolutely no intention in tarnishing the image and reputation of London's police force." Mariah picks up her handbag from the floor and gets up from the chair. She turned to Arturia and smiled at her. "And please ma'am, control yourself."

Arturia grits her teeth and clenches her fists tightly as she and Kairi watch Mariah nonchalantly walking her way out of the interrogation room.

After she had stepped out, Kairi lowered his hand and Arturia tied to speak, "Inspector, what the hell just-"

"That's enough, Sergeant!" Kairi snapped at her. Arturia instantly froze by his outburst as she felt her heart sank. After getting her full attention, Kairi lets out a sigh and calmly chided her, "Sergeant Arturia Pendragon, even if Mariah Dillard is truly responsible for the murder of Cornell Stokes, you have lost the only possible lead we could have had because of your reckless decisions. It is your refusal to follow my advice and the Justice system and your lack of trust in the way we operate that you have indirectly caused the death of a potential witness to the case. Now, any lead that may help us in investigating the true nature of the death of Cornell Stokes is gone. Please Sergeant Pendragon. Reflect yourself on what you have done."

Kairi silently walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving Arturia alone to contemplate what he had said to her.

Arturia sniffled as tears began welling up in her eyes. She bites down on her lower lip, trying to fight back her tears. But it was no use. Despite her best attempts, the tears eventually pour out and they freely roll down her cheeks. She lowers her head and slams her hands on the desk. She sobbed uncontrollably in despair, letting her tears splashed onto the desk.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" Arturia managed to choke out, apologizing to Candace and grieving over her death.

Candace is dead. The only person whom could have helped her and the police to prove that Cornell Stokes was actually murdered is gone. Now, there is absolutely nothing left to bring the murderer to Justice. It was time for Arturia to faced reality. Mariah has walked away scot-free and there is nothing she can do about it.

She had failed.

\----

"HEY! LET US OUT OF HERE!"

Saber woke up upon hearing the loud scream from Illya. Her eyes were blurry and unfocused at first, but as she rose up from her bed, she regains her vision and finds herself in a small room. She turns her head and sees Illya standing behind a line of metal bars. Illya snarled as her hands are wrapped around the bars and she tries to pull them off in vain.

"You've woken up." Saber turns her head to the left side of the room to find Yukari sitting and leaning against the cemented wall. "Are you alright, boss?"

Saber moaned as she felt her head aching. "Barely." She replied, rubbing the back of her head. "Where are we?"

"In Uryu's hideout. And in the prison cells." Yukari answered. "We also found where the kidnapped children are."

Saber widens her eyes. "Really?"

"DID YOU HEAR ME, DUMMKOPFE?! LET…US…OUT!" Illya bellowed again just as a masked mercenary walks over to their cell.

"SHUT UP!" The mercenary yelled before slamming his tonfa against the bars. Illya removes her hands and backs away. Saber and Yukari turn to the mercenary as he withdraws a pistol and threateningly aims it at them and Illya. "One more word out of your mouth and you're going to have lead through your forehead, little girl!" Illya snarled at the masked man as the words struck her nerve. "Growl all you want, but you're never going to get out of here."

In response to his last sentence, there was whimpering and sobbing coming from the other cell beside them, causing Saber to let out a soft gasp.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" The masked man bellowed at the prisoners in the other cell. He holds up his pistol and fires a shot at the ceiling, causing them to sob and scream in horror, which quickly dies down. The masked man turns his head back to Illya, Yukari and Saber as he puts away his pistol. "You have been warned." He said to them coldly before leaving the room.

When they heard a metal door shutting itself, Saber and Yukari turn back to each other. "The kidnapped children are in the other cell next to us." Yukari uttered. "I managed to wake up and notice them before they throw us in here. They are all boys and…probably twenty or twenty-five of them cramped together in one small cell like this."

"While you were out cold for an hour, the masked men were coming into the room every ten minutes to throw two exhausted boys back into the cell and releasing two more of them before leaving." Illya said to their leader.

"Berserker and I heard them mentioning 'getting to work' as they drag the boys out." Yukari added.

Saber grumbled as she curls her fingers into fists. "They are using these kidnapped boys as tools and there are more of them outside these cells! What could they be using them for?!"

"We don't know. But it's terrifying to think about what they could be using these children for." Yukari said grimly as she could still hear the sobbing and whimpering coming from the other cell.

"Where are Assassin and the others?" Saber inquired.

"Assassin, Archer, Rider and Lancer are taken somewhere else." Illya replied. "We don't know what they are doing to them."

"Probably interrogation." Yukari said solemnly. Illya nods her head in agreement.

Saber snarled as her eyes narrowed. "We have to save them."

\----

Inside a small dark room, a tall, muscular bald man with a black goatee and dressed in a white uniform and black boots is mindlessly throwing his punches at a figure who is sitting in front of him on a metal chair. The figure makes a groan or low grunt with every single punch that was landed on his face.

After the muscular man delivers a few more well-aimed punches across the figure's cheeks, Uryu called to him, "Stop, Gustavo."

Gustavo obliged and cracks his knuckles. He moved aside, revealing a badly bruised blonde-haired young man tied to a metal chair by ropes.

Ricky spits some blood out of his mouth. His forehead and cheeks are now filled with all sorts of bruises in varying sizes. But the biggest bruise of all is one that is plastered over his right eye. Squinting through his half-closed eyelids, Ricky looks up and sees Uryu standing in front of him with his arms folded.

Uryu sniggered at him. "Are you ready to cooperate with us?" He sneered.

Ricky nods his head. "I'll talk. I'll tell you who sent us." He said. He gestures Uryu to come closer. When Uryu leans forward, a smirk appears on Ricky's face as he whispered into his ear. "Your mom."

Instantly losing his temper, Uryu snarled and punches Ricky across his face.

Ricky slowly turns back to him and smiled again. "Nice. You can actually hit very well." Ricky throws his head back to flip back the strands of hair that were in front of his squinting eyes. "I guess you're not a pussy who hides behind the back of his big-ass bodyguard here after all."

"So you wish to continue testing our patience. Fine." Uryu said coldly. He snaps his fingers and Gustavo stood in front of Ricky again. "Gustavo, give this man some more…encouragement. I got to go back and watch the workers."

_'Workers? What is he talking about?'_ Ricky thought as he frowned. As Uryu makes his way out, Ricky looks up at Gustavo who stood above him, giving him a deep scowl.

"Go ahead." Ricky smirked at Gustavo. "I've been through worse."

Gustavo firmly places a hand on Ricky's shoulder before clenching his other hand into a fist. The muscular man pulls it back and delivers another round of pain.

\----

Meanwhile, Shirou, Rin and Chulainn are in another small dark room, kneeling down on the floor with their wrists tied and placed behind their backs. Three masked men stood behind them while aiming their rifles at the back of their heads.

Shirou slightly turns his head and swifts his eyes to Rin and Chulainn. He gave them a small nod. Rin and Chulainn nod their heads back at him.

"Head down!" One of the masked men knocks the back of Chulainn's head with the stock of his rifle.

The man who stood behind Rin places the muzzle of his rifle against the back of her head.

"Geez! What the hell is wrong with you guys?! We're just nodding." Rin said to them in annoyance.

"Shut up or I'll shove your nodding head up your ass!" The man bellowed at Rin as he slightly pushed the back of her head forward with the muzzle of his rifle.

"Fine." Rin rolls her eyes. "I guess I'll just urinate here on this floor and in front of you guys."

"Huh? What the fuck are you talking about?!" The man behind Rin asked incredulously. The other two masked man look at her in bewilderment as well.

"Here's the thing, guys." Shirou explained to them. "Our friend here has a real bladder problem. She easily gets…you know…only after a few cups of water."

"Yeah, so can you at least take her to the bathroom?" Chulainn added.

"Please?" Rin turns her head and begged the men with pleading eyes.

"What do we do?" The man standing behind Shirou asked the other two masked men.

"Of course we do nothing! This is nothing more than a joke!" The man standing behind Rin yelled.

"Yeah! Boss is going to kill us if we let her out of the room!" The man behind Chulainn said.

"But what if she's telling the truth?! Things will get messy here!" The man behind Shirou protested.

Rin sighed, tilting her head to the side. "Fine, I guess I will just do it here-"

"ALRIGHT! We'll take you to the bathroom, god dammit!" The man behind Rin yelled at her.

The man behind Chulainn scoffed at her. "Disgusting girl."

"But first, you got to untie my ankles. Otherwise, how am I going to walk?" Rin asked. The man behind her snorted before he reluctantly lowers his rifle and kneels down to untie the ropes tied around her ankles.

Suddenly, as soon as she felt the grip around her ankles loosen, Rin suddenly throws herself back and uses the back of her head to slam against the man's nose and sends him stumbling back.

"Why you-" The man behind Chulainn spoke as the remaining two aim their rifles at Rin. But before they could fire, Rin briefly leans forward and throws herself back again. She did a backwards somersault and while in mid-air, she quickly slides her tied wrists down to the back of her legs. She straightens her legs, allowing her to slide her wrists over them. She lands on the floor safely with both of her feet and her tied wrists are now in front of her.

RIn quickly turns to the man behind Shirou. Before he could pull the trigger, Rin swings her tied wrists diagonally at his rifle, causing him to fire a single bullet at the ceiling instead. As Rin kicks the man in the gut with her knee, the other masked man tries to fire his rifle at her from behind. But Chulainn quickly throws himself back and knocks the man down, sending both of them falling to the floor.

Rin clenches her fists tightly before she delivers a swift punch directly into the man's face, knocking him unconscious and sends him toppling over like a sack of bricks.

As Chulainn rolls over, he looks up and sees the man he knocked down earlier standing above him and aiming his rifle at him. But Rin quickly goes over to him from behind and swings her leg horizontally. She kicks the man at the side of his head and sends him falling to the ground.

Rin turns her head and sees the man who was originally standing behind her getting up with blood trickling down from his nostrils. He yells as he charged at her. But Rin swiftly swings her fists across his face, sending the man stumbling backwards. As Rin slowly walked, she swings a few more punches across the man's cheeks before she finally brings her skull down and slams it directly onto his forehead. As Rin backs away, the man stared at her dumbly and wobbled about for a few seconds before he rolls his eyes back and slumps to the floor.

Finally, the last remaining man got up from the floor just as Rin turned around and sees him. She lets out a yell as she charges over and tackles him to the floor. The man briefly looks up at her dumbfounded before Rin proceeds to bring down her fists and smashes them onto his face as she sat above him. She delivers a few hard punches to his face before he finally slips into unconsciousness.

Rin lets out a sigh of relief when all three men are finally taken down. She gets up and walks over to a nearby rifle which one of the men dropped. She uses her feet to lift and kick the rifle into the air. As it plummets, she quickly catches the rifle by its stock. She walks over to Shirou as he bends over, allowing her to kneel down in front of him and place the rifle on his back, aiming its muzzle at the ropes that are tied around his wrists.

"Stay still." She said before pulling the trigger. She fires a single bullet, which cuts through the ropes and freeing Shirou's wrists. After Rin tosses the rifle away, Shirou sat down on the floor and unties the ropes around his ankles.

"You guys can thank me later." Rin said. "Let's focus on finding Ricky and the others."

\----

The masked mercenary vigilantly stood outside the prison room where Saber, Yukari, Illya and the kidnapped boys are being captive. Suddenly, much to his bewilderment, he could hear singing coming from inside of the room.

"Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I'm home-bound!" The masked mercenary arched an eyebrow as he turns his head to the side. He could recognize one of the voices being the white-haired German girl who was throwing a fit of rage earlier while the other sounded like a genuine British accent. Then, a third voice joined in on the singing.

"Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-doo-doo-doo-doo!"

"Yeah Caster!" Illya cheered as Yukari sang along. She and Saber then sang the next verse.

"Staring blankly ahead, just making my way, making a way, through the crowd!"

"Hey shut up, will you?!" The masked mercenary suddenly slams the metal door with his tonfa. However, his warning fell into deaf ears.

"And I need you…" Illya sang.

"And I miss you…" Saber followed up.

"And now I wonder…" Yukari finished for them.

As the women continued singing and moving onto the next verse of the song, the masked mercenary grumbled as he furiously gets out his key and inserts it into the doorknob.

"I swear I'm going to break their bones when the boss is finally done with them." The mercenary muttered under his breath as he gave the key a twist and unlocks the metal door. He opens it, walks past the cell containing the kidnapped boys and straight to where Saber, Illya and Yukari are held.

As the women sat on the floor and continued singing like they are as high as a cloud, the mercenary furiously slams his tonfa against the metal bars several times.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, FUCKING PSYCHOS!" The mercenary bellowed at them. As Illya and Yukari continued singing, Saber turned to the masked man and smiled goofily at him. The mercenary angrily watched Saber gets up from the floor and wobbles over to him like a drunkard.

"Hahahahahaha! What are trying to say, mister?" Saber giggled merrily at him as she stood behind the metal bars.

"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The mercenary shouted at her, slamming his tonfa at the metal bars again.

Saber turns her head and places her hand behind her left ear, angering the mercenary even more. "Sorry, I still can't hear ya, mate. Actually, why do Australians say 'mate' anyways?"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The mercenary bellowed as he once again swings his tonfa horizontally.

But right before his tonfa could strike against the bars, Saber's goofy smile suddenly distorts into a scowl as she swiftly extends her hand through a gap between the bars and grabs onto his weapon firmly.

The mercenary could only gasp and widen his eyes in shock for a very brief moment before Saber uses her other hand to grab him by the top of his mask and pulls him towards her, slamming his forehead against the hard metal bars in the process. As he backs away, Saber snatches the tonfa, pulling it out from the mercenary's hand. She did a twirl with the tonfa in her hand before she thrusts her new weapon forward and slams it against the mercenary's forehead.

The mercenary lets out a moan as he rolls his eyes back and collapses onto the floor. Saber noticed that he had dropped his keys onto the floor as he fell. Illya and Yukari get up from the floor as their leader kneels down and uses the tonfa to drag the keys over to her. She grabs the keys, stood up and uses them to unlock the cell door.

When she swings the door open, Saber turns to her teammates and glares at them. "Don't ever tell the others what we did to get us out of here." She said to them icily. Yukari and Illya nod their heads as they suppress their urge to laugh. The three women walk out and head over to the other cell containing the kidnapped children.

Saber, Illya and Yukari are appalled at the sight of the boys who sat and lie inside the cramped cell. Most of them are sitting or kneeling on the floor, weeping and sniffling uncontrollably while some are lying on the floor, gazing at the ceiling or staring blankly into space with their mouths agape and saliva drooling at their sides. The three women also notice that there are bruises and marks plastered all over their faces and arms and their tattered clothes are covered with a diverse variety of blemishes and mysterious stains. Their eyes are also sagged and puffy red, making it clear that not only have they been crying non-stop but also haven't been getting any proper sleep for more than a week.

"Christ, what did Ryunosuke do to them?" Saber mumbled under her breath before unlocking the cell door. The children didn't even make any sort of visible reaction as Saber swings the door open and entered their cell along with Yukari and Illya.

Yukari kneels down to their level. Fresh tears formed in her eyes as she felt the emotional pain that is tearing at her heart upon seeing the suffering and helplessness that the boys are going through. She immediately imagined what horrors and terrifying levels of pain these children must have gone through while being held captive by a psychopathic monster and also the amount of sorrow and despair they have while being separated from their parents and families for an extremely long time. At the very moment, she wants nothing more but to comfort these children and reassure them that everything is going to be fine and that she and her team are here to rescue them and bring them back into the warm and loving arms of their parents.

"What do we do now, boss?" Illya asked Saber.

"I hate to say this but we can't get the children out just yet." Saber responded solemnly. "There are probably more of them out there somewhere in this hideout and we still need to know what Ryunosuke and his men are doing to them. Not only that, Assassin and the others are still in trouble. First, we find and rejoin the others. Then, we'll find Ryunosuke and make him pay for what he had done. And finally, we can focus on getting these children out."

"I'll stay here with the children." Yukari said as she wipes off the tears from her eyes. Saber and Illya turn to her and see Yukari wrapping her arms tenderly around two weeping boys. "You go find the others."

Saber briefly stared at her wordlessly before she nodded her head. "Keep them safe while we're gone." She said. Yukari nods her head back at her leader. Saber and Illya turn around and walk out of the room. After stepping out, Saber closes the door behind them and locks it.

"Caster and the children will be safe inside until we get back." Saber reassured to Illya as she puts the keys into her pocket. "Now let's go find the others!"

\----

After landing a few more well-placed punches across Ricky's cheeks, Gustavo backs away and cracks his knuckles again.

Ricky spits out some more blood from his mouth before looking up at his interrogator. He flashes a small smirk at him. "That's right. Keep doing it. I got all the time in the world anyways."

Gustavo responded by shaking his head in silence. He clenches his fist and delivers a swift punch into his gut. Ricky gasped in pain as he throws his head forward. He exhaled a few deep breaths before looking up at Gustavo again.

"Sorry…but I still ain't talking." Ricky murmured with his eyes narrowed.

"He's right. He never was the cooperative type."

Ricky widens his eyes and looks up to see Chulainn standing at the door and behind Gustavo. Gustavo turned around and widens his eyes in shock.

Chulainn then delivers a swift punch into Gustavo's gut, causing him to bend over. Gustavo gasped; extremely surprised that despite being a foot shorter than him, Chulainn still has the strength to punch him hard like a super heavyweight boxer.

Chulainn quickly took the opportunity to grab Gustavo by his head and slams his face into his raised kneecap. As Gustavo backs away in pain, Ricky throws his head back before bringing himself forward and delivering a headbutt into the mercenary's back. This causes Gustavo to stumble over to Chulainn, who swings his fist and delivers a powerful punch across his face.

After Gustavo falls onto the floor, Chulainn walks over to him and brings his foot down onto the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. When the fight is over, Chulainn lets out a sigh before walking over to Ricky.

"Are you okay?" Chulainn asked as he immediately begins to untie the ropes that bind Ricky's wrists onto the arms of the metal chair.

"Not really, but I've been through worse. Thanks for saving my ass, Lancer." Ricky said.

Chulainn stops and looks back up at Ricky with an arched eyebrow. "Did you just…thank me?"

"Yeah." Ricky replied. "Is there a problem?"

"Nonononono, not at all." Chulainn waves his hand at him. He smirked as he leans his head over to Ricky and places his hand behind his right ear. "I just want you to say that again. Thank me for saving your ass again. Just do it."

Ricky growled as he rolls his eyes back. "Thank you for saving my ass, Lancer." Ricky muttered.

"Louder." Lancer said.

"Thank you for saving my ass, Lancer." Ricky repeated himself in a slightly louder tone, but still barely above a mumble.

"Louder!"

"THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY ASS, LANCER!" Ricky bellowed in annoyance and frustration.

"Good." Chulainn smiled and nods his head. "Now I want you to say it in French."

Ricky grumbled under his breath before saying. "Merci d'avoir sauvé mon cul, Lancer."

"Now say it in Japanese…"

"Will you just fucking untie me already?!" Ricky berated him.

Chulainn throws his head back and laughed. "I'm just kidding." He chuckled. After untying the ropes, Ricky gets up from the chair and rubs his wrists.

"Where are Rider and Archer? Aren't they with you?" Ricky asked.

"Those two left to find Saber, Caster and Berserker." As soon as Chulainn mentioned their names, the door behind him opened. He and Ricky look at the doorway to see Shirou, Rin, Saber and Illya entering the room.

"Assassin, are you alright?" Saber asked her second-in-command in concern as she approached him.

"I'll be." Ricky replied as Saber gently strokes her hand on his bruised left cheek.

Saber frowned at him. "Wish we could be sooner." She murmured.

"Where's Caster?" Lancer asked.

"She's still in the cell room with some of the kidnapped children." Saber responded as she turned to him. "I'll explain everything later. But first, we got to retrieve our weapons, then find Ryunosuke and the kidnapped children."

\----

The brown-haired boy weeps and whimpers as he lies on Uryu's sofa. He couldn't believe this is happening to him right now. He could still remember that only last week, school had ended for the day and just like every other child, he casually exits the building and merrily walks down the pavement, making his way back home. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a mysterious lanky orange-haired man walks over to him and blocks his way. Before he knew it, the man swiftly places a towel over his mouth and after breathing in the weird smell of chemicals, everything around him went black.

The moment he woke up, he finds himself lying inside a small cramped cell along with many other boys around his age. Immediately, several questions came flooding into his mind. Where is he? Why is he here? Who are all those boys who are sharing the same room as him? Who was that man who came up to him before? And most importantly, will he ever get back home?

Sadly, the answer to the last question never came. Throughout the next seven days, the boy was plunged into an entirely different world. He and the others were forced by that mysterious man and several other people, whom he has no idea who they are, to work every day with little time to rest. They would only sleep about four hours or less every night before they are thrown back into the assembly room to build the outer layers of the missiles and fill in whatever it is inside them.

But what's even worse for them is Ryunosuke himself. Every once in a while, he would order the mercenaries to bring in a random child from the cell and take him to his room, doing whatever god knows what with him. And now today, he finally knows the answer through the hard way. The boy closes his eyes, letting his tears pour down his cheeks, trying to forget the god awful things that Ryunosuke had done to him. But he couldn't and probably never will for a long time.

He hated it. Even if he had to spend hours listening to his teacher and doing homework, studying and going to school is a thousand times better than this. He wanted nothing more to be back at his home, to be back in his parents' arms. But sadly, after a week had passed, it seems like he will never get back to his old life. He will never experience freedom again. He is completely trapped.

Suddenly, much to the boy's surprise, a masked mercenary burst through the door and sprawled through the floor after receiving a massive kick in the gut. The boy looks up and his eyes widened. He sees Chulainn putting down his leg and stroking back his hair as he stood at the doorway.

Chulainn and the others entered Uryu's room and spotted the boy lying on the sofa. Saber turns to Shirou and Rin and gestures them to untie the boy.

"Archer, Rider, release the boy. The rest of us will find our weapons." Saber ordered. Her teammates obliged. Shirou and Rin rush over to the sofa and help remove the towel and ropes from the boy while Saber, Chulainn, Ricky and Illya scavenge the room for their weapons.

After Shirou untied the ropes around the boy's hands, Rin got the boy to sit upright and removes the towel around his mouth. The boy suddenly threw himself onto Rin and wraps his arms around her tightly. His tears spilled onto Rin's shoulders as he bawled.

"Ssshhh, it's okay." Rin said soothingly as she rubs the boy's back to comfort him. "We're here to get you all out. Everything's going to be fine."

After giving a few more comforting strokes on the boy's back, Rin looks up and noticed Shirou sitting in front of her with a warm smile. "What?" She asked him.

"Oh nothing." Shirou shakes his head. "It's just that if you were married and had kids, you will definitely be great at your job as a mother."

Rin's cheeks immediately blushed crimson upon hearing his words. "Keep your idiotic thoughts to yourself, will you?!" She barked at him. Shirou couldn't help but laugh in response to her outburst.

Suddenly, Illya lets out a yell as she did a flying kick at a metal cabinet. The mixture of sounds from the slamming of the cabinet and the lock hitting onto the marble floor, startled Shirou, Rin and the boy.

Illya swings open the doors and a huge grin takes form on her face as she found everyone's signature weapons neatly stored inside. "Hey guys! I found them!" She proclaimed.

"Great work, Berserker." Saber said.

"I found something interesting too." Ricky cried. Everyone turn their heads to him as he opens up the drawer underneath a desk. He found a cellphone and a light brown file containing several papers. He widens his eyes as soon as he sees the logo and name printed on the front of the file. "Motherfuckers."

"Did you kiss your mother with that mouth?!" Rin scolded. Ricky looks up and realized that a child is hugging her in a tight embrace.

"Sorry." He said apologetically as Saber walks over to his side. She looks down at the file and widens her eyes.

"Matou Industries." She uttered. "Those men we fought…Uryu Ryunosuke is working for them?!"

"Boss, you ain't gonna believe this." Chulainn said as he looks through the curtain blinds. Ricky and Saber turned around as Chulainn backs away from the curtains. He walks over to the corner of the room and presses the button on the wall.

The curtains automatically pull back, revealing a wide glass window behind them. Everyone present in the room walks over to the window and as soon as they see what is in front of them, their jaws plummet and their eyes widen in mortified shock.

Below them was a huge room filled with young boys working on chemical missiles. Some of them are building the exterior design of the missiles while others are filling them up with its toxic contents through hoses attached to glass containers. Standing vigilantly at both sides of the room are masked mercenaries armed with AK-47 rifles, eyeing warily at the children.

At the end of the huge room were several trucks with large metal highway trailers attached to their backs. Masked mercenaries are moving in and out of the trailers, storing the finished chemical missiles inside them.

Standing at the corner was Ryunosuke, watching the masked men store the weapons inside the trailers with his arms folded and a smug grin on his face.

"That's him." Saber narrows her eyes as she spotted the man who had slipped them into unconsciousness earlier. "That's Ryunosuke."

The boy buried his head into Rin's stomach when Saber mentioned his name. Rin smiled weakly as she ruffled the boy's hair affectionately.

"All those missiles…" Shirou uttered. "What are they?"

"We don't know." The boy spoke. Everybody except Ricky turned to the boy as he looks up at them with tearstained eyes. "We were only told to build them and fill them up. If we ask questions, they'll punish us."

As the boy was talking, Ricky flips through the papers inside the file that he is still holding in his hands. He examined the details and pictures that were contained inside it. After he finished reading, he closes the file and turns his head to Saber.

"These chemical missiles are codenamed "Grail"." Ricky said as he holds up the file. "The contents inside are designed to target specific genotypes in your bodies."

"What the f-" Chulainn quickly cuts himself off when he noticed Rin glaring at him suspiciously while gesturing to the boy hugging her tightly. Realizing there is a child in their presence; Chulainn took a gulp before asking Ricky again, "What does that mean?"

"Apparently, the science division of Matou Industries is also working on a serum called "Od". Any person who isn't injected with his "Od" will die from the contents inside those missiles." Ricky replied.

"So you're saying that if these missiles are dropped, everyone dies except those who are injected by the serum." Shirou said.

"Aye." Ricky nods his head as he lowered the file in his hand. "Contact with even a single spore is fatal. Even chemical suits are useless against it. This kind of weapon will surely bring nations down to their knees."

"And a great way for Matou Industries to earn lots of money, I guess." Illya shrugs and tilts her head to the side.

"Boss, don't mind if I make a suggestion?" Ricky asked Saber.

"Go ahead." Saber said flatly as she folds her arms.

"I know this isn't usually your style in dealing with criminals, but perhaps we should take pictures of these documents and send them to Kiritsugu and Maiya. Then, snap some photos of these children doing hard labor for Matou Industries as evidence that they have violated kidnapping and child labor laws. And finally, most important of all, capture Ryunosuke alive and hand him and these documents to the authorities. If we do that, it will definitely serve a huge blow to Matou Industries." Ricky said.

"Christmas will come early for all of us." Chulainn added with a grin. "Oh, I like that! Let's do it!"

"We gladly would. But I'm sure a certain blonde hothead wouldn't let us do such a thing." Illya replied as she eyed suspiciously at Saber with her hands placed on the sides of her hip.

Saber lets out a sigh as she gazed at her teammates. "Look, I'm sorry for losing my temper for the last few days." She said regretfully. "I'm sorry that I got mad with all of you. I never should have acted like that, especially as your leader. And…I could definitely need you guys and Caster to help me get back on the right track."

Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Illya and Chulainn smiled back at her.

"It's good to have you back, boss." Ricky responded with a nod.

"You have our full support, ma'am!" Illya said merrily, saluting to Saber and stomping her foot.

"We're going to do this together, boss." Rin said enthusiastically as she gave a thumbs-up.

A wide smile plasters across Saber's face, knowing that she had regain the full support from her teammates.

"Alright, I've got a plan." Saber said to everyone. "But we can only execute this perfectly if we work together."


	8. Great Sandy Desert, Part 3

"HEY! OPEN UP! If somebody is inside there, open up the door right now! You can't hide in there forever!" The mercenary yelled at the prison door while slamming at it with his tonfa continuously. Three other mercenaries stood behind him with their weapons placed on their backs. After discovering that their fellow mercenary who is supposed to be standing outside the prison room is nowhere to be seen and that the door is locked, they immediately know that something is terribly wrong.

The children in the cell sobbed in horror as they hear the loud clamoring coming from outside and the thunderous clashing against the metal door. Yukari remained calm as she sat in the middle of the cell. The two boys who are sitting next to her at both sides clung onto her tightly.

"Don't worry everyone." Yukari said soothingly to the boys as she hugged them closer. "Everything is going to be fine."

After hitting the prison door with his tonfa several more times with no avail, the mercenary turned to the others and gestures them to take it down.

One brawny mercenary draws out his battering ram as he goes over to the front of the prison door. He slams the ram against the metal door, leaving an extremely huge dent on it.

Yukari closes her eyes as she leans her head against one of the boys. She really hopes a miracle can happen now.

The brawny mercenary takes a step back from the metal door. One more powerful slam should take it down and allow them to enter the room. He pulls back his battering ram and-

"Keep it down, will ya?! There are children inside there!"

The mercenaries turn their heads to see Illya standing in the middle of the hallway, glaring at them with her hands placed firmly on the sides of her hip. They stared dumbly at her for a moment before two of them finally draw out their rifles at fire at Illya.

To their surprise however, Illya charged at the mercenaries while moving side to side to dodge the bullets that are flying towards her. Not a single bullet is able to land even a scratch on her body as she dodged and ran past them.

When she got close to the mercenaries, she jumps in the air and slams her kneecap against the nearest enemy in the face.

As the first mercenary falls to the floor on his back, the second one tries to attack Illya by swinging his rifle at the back of her head. But Illya dodged his attack by ducking down. She swiftly turned around and delivers a powerful uppercut under his chin, sending him flying to the air and landing on the floor with a hard thud.

The third mercenary draws out his tonfa and charged at Illya. Illya turned around in time to see the mercenary proceeding to deliver a series of horizontal and vertical strikes at her with his tonfa. Illya dodges every attack by backing away from him. When Illya moved to the side to dodge a vertical strike from him, she finds herself pinned against the wall. The mercenary takes this opportunity to deliver a diagonal strike at her. Illya dodged the attack by throwing herself to the floor and the tonfa slams against the wall instead.

Illya spun around on the floor and literally sweeps him off from his feet by kicking at his ankles. As the third mercenary falls onto the floor on his back, Illya quickly pounced on top of him and slams her fist against his forehead to knock him unconscious.

"Eat this, you little bitch!" The brawny mercenary shouted. Illya looks up in time to see him charging at her with his battering ram.

She leaps back in time before the mercenary thrusts his ram at her. After Illya landed on her feet, she looks up and sees the mercenary charging at her again.

As soon as the mercenary is less than two feet away from her however, Illya brings up her leg and scored a direct hit into the man's crotch. Once she lets her leg down, the mercenary gave out an extremely high-pitched groan as he drops his ram.

Illya smirked as she cracks her knuckles. She swings her fist across the man's cheek and sends him falling to the floor like a tossed bag of cement.

After seeing all four mercenaries laying on the floor unconscious, Illya goes over to the metal door and takes out the prison keys which Saber passed to her. She unlocks the door and swings it open to see Yukari and the boys sitting together in the cramped cell. The boys look up and widen their eyes in awe while Yukari smiled in relief.

"Come on Caster," Illya smiled tenderly at her as she extends out her hand. "We're getting out of here." Yukari nodded in response before she grabs her hand.

\----

Meanwhile in the electrical room, Shirou and Rin make their way to the fuse box. Shirou unzips Illya's backpack and took out a proximity mine. He passes it to Rin who plants it onto the fuse box.

Shirou places his finger on his earpiece and spoke, "Boss, Berserker, we've planted the bomb."

_"Great work, Archer and Rider."_ Saber replied. _"What about you, Berserker? Are Caster and the children safe?"_

_"Yup! They're safe and sound! We're heading to the assembly room now."_ Shirou and Rin could hear Illya replying to their leader.

_"Good. Archer, Rider, meet up with them. Inform me when all of you are behind the doors. When I give the signal, get ready."_ Saber said solemnly.

"Got it. Archer out." Shirou responded.

After removing his finger, Shirou and Rin turn to each other and nod their heads before running out of the room.

After going through the hallways for some time, they see Illya, Yukari and the boys running over to them. They go over to the large pair of green doors in the middle of the hallway. Yukari and Shirou place their hands on the door handles and nod their heads at each other.

Yukari places her finger at her earpiece and said to Saber, "Boss, we're at the doors."

_"Good."_ Saber responded to her.

\----

Back in Uryu's office, Saber turned to Ricky and Chulainn who stood in front of the large glass window. She nods her head to them.

"Let's get the party started." Ricky said, holding up his revolver with a grin on his face while Chulainn grabs the chair and holds it up.

"Kid, don't try this at home." Saber gave a small smile to the brown-haired boy as she wraps her arm around him. The boy nodded before burying his face in his hands. The two men turn to the window and Chulainn tosses the chair at it.

The chair breaks through the glass and startled everyone present in the assembly room including Uryu himself. When the chair landed on the floor about less than two feet away from Uryu, the orange-haired man squealed in horror as he backs away and swings his arms frantically in the air.

"What the hell?!" Uryu shouted before he looked up with his eyes widened in surprise. The boys and the mercenaries look up and stare dumbly at Uryu's office room to see Ricky, Chulainn, Saber and the brown-haired boy standing behind the now broken window.

"Uryu Ryunosuke! We're shutting you down once and for all!" Saber bellowed at him.

Uryu snarled at Saber before turning to his men. "Don't just stand there! SHOOT THEM!" He barked at the mercenaries as he jabs a finger at the people in his office room.

Just as the mercenaries regain their senses and aim their rifles at the intruders, Saber places her finger at her earpiece.

"Now." She said.

_"Ja!"_ Illya replied cheerfully before pressing the button on her remote. The proximity mine on the fuse box in the electrical room exploded and a second later, every light and camera throughout the entire hideout went out. The children immediately squeal in response.

"What now?!" Uryu yelled in annoyance. The mercenaries on the other hand gasp and lower their weapons as they turn their heads around, trying to see through the darkness.

However, they could hear a pair of doors opening. They turn their heads to the direction where the door would be and they barely notice some silhouettes heading straight for them. They wish they could fire but unfortunately because of the darkness, they couldn't tell if they would accidentally fire at the children and as a result, not a single bullet was fired.

The only sounds that could be heard were the sickening noises of faces and guts being punched and the painful groans the mercenaries made.

"What the hell is going on?!" Uryu demanded, completely bewildered what is going on right now. A few more seconds later, the lights went back up. Uryu's jaw then plummeted in an instant.

While all the children present in the room are safe and unharmed, all of his mercenaries however laid on the floor, injured and unconscious. Standing above his injured men and only ten feet away from him were Shirou, Rin and Illya. Yukari stood at the doorway with the children that were originally imprisoned.

As Illya, Rin and Shirou slowly walk towards Uryu, the latter cracks his knuckles. Uryu cringed as he heard the sickening sound. He fell to the floor and curls himself into a protective ball.

"Hey guys, come on. Show me some mercy, will ya?" Uryu pleaded, holding his arms up in front of him and trembling in fear. "I'll pay you guys anything if you leave me alone, I swear! What do you guys want?! Tell me!"

"Nothing really." Shirou replied. "Only your co-operation."

"Huh?" Uryu lowers his arms and briefly looks up at Shirou before he delivers a swift punch to his face. The back of Uryu's head slams against the wall. He groans as his head slumps to the side.

"Archer, cuff him! Rider, start the truck! Berserker, Caster, get the children inside!" Saber ordered from Uryu's office.

Rin quickly run over to the front of the nearest truck while Shirou takes out the handcuffs and place them on Uryu's wrists. The kidnapper doesn't have the strength to fight back and could stare back at Shirou dumbly as he is being restrained. Meanwhile, Illya and Yukari are gathering up the children and taking them to the back of the room.

"No need to be afraid, boys. We're here to get you all out of this place. Just do as we say and everything will be fine." Illya said to the boys.

After getting onto the driver's seat of the truck, Rin pries open what was underneath the steering wheel and pulls out two wires. She carefully connects the wires together and it turns on the ignition. After starting up the vehicle, Rin closes the door and looks at the side mirror. She slowly reverses the truck, uncaringly pushing through the unfinished missiles and glass containers in the process. Illya and Yukari stood and place their arms in front of the children protectively as Rin reverses the truck towards them.

When the back of the trailer reached ten feet away from them, Rin quickly hit the brakes. Illya and Yukari go over to the back doors of the trailer and open them.

"Get in! Hurry!" Yukari ordered the children encouragingly. They obliged and quickly get inside the trailer.

Chulainn, Ricky, Saber and the brown-haired boy look down and see that the top of the trailer is about twelve feet below them. Saber turned to the boy and gestured him to go with Chulainn, who kneels down and spreads out his arms to him.

"Go with Lancer. He'll get you down there with the other children." Saber instructed the boy. Suddenly, much to her surprise, the boy throws himself over to her and gives her a tight embrace. He looks up at her and smiled weakly.

"Thank you." The boy said softly as tears well up in his eyes.

After staring blankly at him for a few seconds, a weak smile takes form on Saber's face. "You're welcome." She responded with a nod.

The boy pulls away from his hug and scampers over to Chulainn. After grabbing hold onto the boy, the blue-haired man scoops him up from his feet as he stood up. He looks down at the top of the trailer and clings onto the boy securely. After taking a few steps forward, he jumps out of the broken window and plummets through the air. As soon as his feet touched the top of the trailer, Chulainn rolls over and turned to his right. He gets up and jumps off from the trailer. When he lands on the floor, he rolls over again and got himself into a kneeling position with the boy still clinging onto him. Chulainn looks down and smiled when he sees that the boy is completely fine. After putting him down, Chulainn and the boy make their way over to the back of the trailer and join the others.

Meanwhile, after securing Uryu, Shirou grabs onto the chain between the cuffs and drags him over to the front of the truck. He goes over to the left side of the truck and opens the door. He tosses Uryu inside and the kidnapper grunted as he lands on the seat uncomfortably and finds himself leaning against Rin. In annoyance, Rin shoves Uryu aside as Shirou entered the vehicle and sat next to the kidnapper.

After the last child entered the trailer, Chulainn looks up at Ricky and Saber who are still in the office and gave them an 'okay' hand gesture. Ricky and Saber nod their heads in response. Suddenly, the door behind them burst open and several mercenaries entered.

"Gustavo! We found them!" One of the mercenaries said to his radio.

"Kill them! Make them pay!" Gustavo ordered. The mercenaries hold up their rifles and aim at Ricky and Saber.

Ricky and Saber turn to each other and smirk. They held each other's hands before looking back at the mercenaries.

"Take it easy y'all." Ricky waves his hand at them.

Saber places her finger on her earpiece and said to Illya, "Do it."

"You got it!" A huge grin appears on Illya's face as she presses her remote again.

The mercenaries gasp when they heard beeping. They turn their heads and widen their eyes in horror, realizing that there were two proximity mines planted at the sides of the doorway. Before they could even react, the mines exploded.

Ricky and Saber quickly jump out and plummet down to the trailer just before the smoke and flames burst through the window.

When the two land their feet on the trailer and roll over, Saber places her finger on her earpiece and ordered Rin, "Punch it!"

Rin immediately slams her foot on the gas pedal and drives her way out of the hideout. Chulainn and Illya quickly close the large metal doors of the trailer as they drive off. Yukari and the children huddled together at the back of the trailer. The truck leaves the hideout and into the desert.

"The children are safe and secured." Illya said, placing her finger on her earpiece.

"And we're finally making our way out of here." Rin added as she controls the steering wheel. Shirou, Illya and Chulainn cheered and hooted in response.

"Hate to disappoint, but we're not out of the woods yet." Saber said solemnly.

Shirou looked at the mirror at his side, realizing that their leader is right. In the distance, several jeeps and motorcycles and speeding their way over to them. The jeeps have turrets installed on their backs and each has a mercenary mounted behind them and clinging onto the triggers.

In front of them all is Gustavo who is controlling and standing behind a turret with two mercenaries sitting at the driver and passenger seats.

"After them!" Gustavo bellowed, jabbing a finger at the fleeing truck. "If they get away with Uryu and the plans, Matou Industries is fucked! KILL THEM ALL!"

Shirou cursed under his breath before drawing out his sniper rifle. Suddenly, Uryu burst out laughing and Rin and Shirou turn their heads to him. "That's what you get for messing with me and Matou Industries! You guys think you can escape?! Well too bad, mother-AUUUUGGGGHHHH!"

Without warning, Rin jabs her elbow against Uryu's forehead. Uryu groans as he rolls his eyes to his back and slips into unconsciousness.

"You should've hit him harder." Rin chided Shirou in annoyance.

"Yeah, I should have." Shirou replied before placing his finger on his earpiece. "We got company."

"Then let's give them hell." Ricky responded. As he and Saber kneel on top of the trailer, they draw out their revolver and glocks and turn to their pursuers. "I'm looking at about twenty motorcycles and ten jeeps."

"Want to see which one of us can take out the most?" Saber asked her second-in-command with a smirk.

Ricky chuckled as a lopsided grin takes form on his face. "You're on."

Ten motorcycles drove past the jeeps as they speed their way towards the truck. They split up into two groups. Five of them drove to one side of the trailer and the others move to the other. As they drove at the sides of the trailers, the mercenaries sitting at the back of the motorcycles draw out their rifles and fire at the top of the trailer.

Ricky and Saber stood up and place their backs against each other. They hold out their guns and fire back at the mercenaries. Ricky was able to take out three mercenaries at the left side while Saber shot down four at the right.

A mercenary on the left aims at Ricky and tries to fire his rifle, but a bullet shot through the front wheel of the motorcycle. This caused the vehicle to flip over and sends its driver and the mercenary flying through the air. Shirou quickly reloads his rifle afterwards.

"Ten o'clock." Rin instructed. Shirou instantly turns to his left and shot down a lone motorcyclist that was attempting to fire at him with his pistol. The motorcyclist falls off from his vehicle and rolls over on the sand. "Two o'clock." Shirou turns to his right and quickly shot a bullet through the forehead of another motorcyclist. "Ten again." He turns to his left again and shot down another.

"Now my side." Rin tilts her head to her right. Shirou lowers his rifle and turn around.

"Lean back." Shirou said flatly to Rin. Rin did as she was told and Shirou holds up his sniper rifle. He quickly fires a shot at the back wheel of the motorcycle, sending the two mercenaries aboard falling and rolling over the sand like tumbleweeds.

Ricky kneels down and flicks out the barrel of his revolver. He quickly inserts his hand into his pocket and grabs some bullets. As he reloads his revolver, the remaining motorcycle on the left take the opportunity to drive over to the side of the trailer. The mercenary on the back takes out his grappling hook and tosses it to the top of the trailer. He jumps off from the motorcycle and presses his feet against the side of the trailer. As he climbs his way up to the top of the trailer, Ricky finished reloading his gun and stood up. He goes over to the side and aims his gun down at the climber but the motorcyclist fires a few bullets at him with his pistol. Ricky backs away as Saber shot down three more mercenaries at her side.

"Having trouble?" Saber asked as she turned to her second-in-command.

"With some stubborn asshole? Yeah, kinda." Ricky admitted. Saber draws out the tonfa that originally belongs to the prison guard from underneath her suit.

"I never need this anyways." Saber said, handing the tonfa over to Ricky. Ricky grabs it and rushes over to the side of the trailer. Before the motorcyclist could fire his pistol at him again, Ricky tosses the tonfa and delivers a direct hit to his forehead. The motorcyclist lets out a yell as he drops his pistol and falls off from his vehicle.

When the remaining mercenary reached the top of the trailer, he looks up and sees Ricky standing above him, aiming his revolver at his forehead.

"G'day mate." Ricky greeted with a brief salute before firing a shot at him.

When Shirou took out the last remaining motorcyclist on the right, he sat back down on his seat and reloads his rifle.

When he noticed that all ten motorcycles have been taken out, Gustavo snarled furiously as he tosses away his binoculars. He turns to his men behind him and swings his arm vertically.

"All units! Forward!" Gustavo barked out to his men. Every remaining motorcycle and jeep accelerated towards to the back of the trailer. Ricky and Saber fire their guns at them and they managed to take out four motorcycles.

When four of the remaining six motorcycles are at the sides, every mercenary sat on the back of them swing their grappling hooks at the top of the trailer. Ricky and Saber turn to their sides and aim their guns at them. However, not being able to contain his anger and patience any longer, Gustavo yells as he fires his turret at the top of the trailer.

Ricky and Saber quickly fall themselves flat on the top of the trailer. As the bullets shot through the top of the metal doors of the trailer, Yukari, Illya and Chulainn yelp and place their hands on their heads while the children began sobbing in horror.

"We can't let them fire at the trailer! There are children inside for God's sake!" Saber yelled with her finger placed on her earpiece.

"Sir! Stop firing!" The mercenary sitting in the passenger seat of Gustavo's jeep yelled at his superior. Gustavo stops and looks down at him with his eyes narrowed. "I know we have to take out the enemy but we can't risk killing the children inside the trailer too!"

"Yeah, you're right." Gustavo gave him a solemn nod. Without warning, he draws out his pistol and fires a shot at the passenger. The driver yelps as the mercenary next to him slumps forward and laid lifelessly on the glove box.

"Keep your eyes at the front!" Gustavo bellowed at the driver. The driver quickly obliged and turned back to his front. Gustavo yelled at the two motorcycles that are right behind the back of the trailer, "You two! Get the doors open!"

The two mercenaries sitting at the back of the motorcycles throw their grappling hooks and they latched onto the top of the metal doors, causing the children inside the trailer to wail louder.

Illya growled angrily as she glanced at the hooks visibly pierced through the top of the metal doors. She placed her duffel bag onto the metal floor and unzips it, revealing her XM214 Microgun. She adjusts the barrel before picking it up.

"Payback time." She uttered as she narrows her eyes.

Chulainn frantically turns his head around as he glanced at the sobbing children, having no idea how to calm them down.

"Calm down! Don't cry! Everyone, keep it down! I SAID KEEP IT DOWN!" Chulainn yelled at them out of panic and anxiety over the current situation. Obviously, it didn't work and the children continue bawling unhappily.

"Shut up! You're only making things worse!" Yukari scolded Chulainn like an angry wife.

"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Chulainn yelled at her.

Yukari wraps her arms tightly around two boys as she kept glaring at Chulainn. Then, her tone quickly softened as she began singing to the children with a tender smile on her face.

_"Hush little baby, don't you cry. Everything's going to be alright. And if you all don't say a word, you'll be back with your mom and dad. And if this truck gets rolled over, we'll just ride on a horse and cart. And if that horse and cart fall down, you'll still be the sweetest boys in town."_

As the children listen to Yukari's singing, they instantly quiet down and wipe away their tears. They close their eyes as they began rocking back and forth along with Yukari. Chulainn drops his jaw as he stared at them dumbly.

"Seriously? That worked?" Chulainn managed to choke out his words.

"Miss Yukino knows what's best." Illya replied to him as she stood in front of the metal doors while holding up her microgun.

Meanwhile, the motorcyclists fire their guns at Ricky and Saber as they defend the mercenaries who are climbing at the sides of the trailer. Ricky and Saber fire back and they took out both motorcyclists on the right side. By the time they shot down those motorcyclists however, two mercenaries reached the top of the trailer and quickly draw out their combat knives.

Ricky and Saber put away their guns just as one mercenary charge towards the latter. He tries to bring down his knife at her but Saber quickly restrained him by grabbing his arm and punching him in the gut. Meanwhile, Ricky ducks down as the other mercenary swung his knife horizontally at him. Ricky charged at him and rams his head into the mercenary's stomach, pushing him back and off the top of the trailer. The mercenary yelled in despair as he helplessly plummets through the air and tumbled over the sand.

He rolls over to the motorcycle on the right that is pulling the metal door open with its grappling hook. The motorcyclist looked to his front and briefly lets out a yell before the tumbling mercenary slams into the front of his vehicle, causing the motorcycle to flip over and sends both the drive and passenger flying through the air.

Shirou also shot down the two motorcyclists on the left side with his sniper rifle while Rin continued driving the truck with her eyes fixated at the front. Then, her eyes widened when she spotted two canyons in the distance. The canyons are so close to each other that there is a long narrow ditch in the middle.

Rin places her finger on her earpiece and said to Saber, "Boss, we still got the jeeps to take care of, right?"

After landing a punch into the mercenary's face, Saber places her finger on her earpiece and responds, "Yeah, we got to find a way to get those bastards off our tails."

"I may have an idea. Hang on, boss." Rin replied. After removing her finger from the earpiece, she places her hand back on the steering wheel and stomps her foot on the gas pedal, accelerating the truck.

As the truck moved faster, Ricky, Saber and the mercenary momentarily stumbled but they managed to stay on their feet and get back up.

The two mercenaries on the left side of the trailer reach the top and attack Ricky and Saber from behind. As Ricky and Saber turn around and fought with the two mercenaries, Gustavo turns to the nearest jeep on his right and ordered the turret operator, "FIRE AT THEM!"

"But our men-" The turret operator tried to speak, but Gustavo cuts him off.

"DO IT!" He bellowed. The turret operator aims his turret and Ricky, Saber and their attackers and fires several bullets at them.

Ricky, Saber and the mercenaries gasp and they quickly drop to the metal floor. One unfortunate mercenary however fail to react in time and several bullets shot through all over his chest, stomach and shoulders. The dead mercenary then slumps to the side and falls off from the top of the trailer.

"The metal doors! Ram it!" Gustavo ordered the driver of his jeep. The driver accelerated towards the back of the trailer and the jeep slams against the metal doors. The bar lock behind the doors fell off, allowing the mercenary on the last remaining motorcycle to pull the left door open with its grappling hook.

To the mercenaries' surprise including Gustavo, Illya goes over to the edge of the opening and aims her microgun at them. "SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Illya cackled as she pulls the trigger of her microgun and rain down several bullets at the jeeps.

As she slowly turns, she took out all of the mercenaries on four different jeeps, including the driver of Gustavo's vehicle. Gustavo dodged the bullets by jumping off from his turret and grabbing onto the rope attached to the grappling hook on the right trailer door that was left hanging freely.

He swings himself over to the right side of the trailer and he snarled as he looks up at the top where Ricky and Saber are fighting with his men.

As Illya continue firing at the jeeps who are driving themselves out of the rain of fire, all the children inside the trailer cringe and cover their ears. Yukari wraps her arms protectively around the boys who are sitting next to her on both sides.

"I hope you boys learn a valuable lesson. Guns are extremely dangerous." Yukari whispered to them. The boys slowly nod their heads while still covering their ears.

After tossing a mercenary off from the top of the trailer, Ricky turned to Saber who grabs the other masked man by his collar.

"Heads up." Saber said to him before tossing the mercenary over to Ricky. Ricky swiftly punches him across his cheek. As the mercenary backs away, Saber punches him on the back of his head. The mercenary stumbles over to Ricky who did a twirling kick that sends him falling off from the trailer.

Ricky lets out a sigh before turning to Saber. "Is that all? That wasn't so bad." He said as he wipes off the dust from his shirt.

Suddenly, Gustavo lets out a ferocious yell as he climbs up to the top of the trailer and swings his fist horizontally at Saber. Saber quickly turned to him and dodged the attack by ducking down. She delivers a powerful uppercut into his stomach, blowing out some air from Gustavo. As Gustavo backs away, he tilts his neck side to side and cracks his knuckles.

"Guess I spoke too soon." Ricky frowned.

"Is this the guy who punched you?" Saber asked Ricky.

"Yeah, he is." Ricky said. He and Saber clench their fists tightly and get into their fighting stances.

"Let's repay every injury he gave you five-fold." Saber said icily.

As Ricky and Saber are busy fighting with Gustavo and the jeeps are still following the trailer from behind, Rin accelerates the truck towards the long and narrow ditch between the two canyons.

Illya managed to take out two more jeeps before her microgun runs out of bullets. As the remaining four jeeps drive nearer to the back of the trailer, Chulainn quickly goes over to Illya's side and fires his AK-47 rifle at them while helping her close the left door.

Gustavo thrusts his fist over at Ricky who dodged it by stepping to the side. He grabs Gustavo's arm and throws him over to Saber who proceeds to deliver a series of punches to his face and abdomen.

Saber delivers one final punch across Gustavo's face which sends him twirling around and backing away from her. Before he had a chance to recover, Ricky runs over to him, jumps in the air and delivers a powerful kick with both legs into his chest, sending Gustavo falling onto the metal floor on his back.

When the truck is only a few miles away from the canyons, Rin places her finger on her earpiece and said to her teammates, "Brace yourselves."

As soon as they heard her said that, Ricky and Saber dropped to the metal floor and laid low. Chulainn and Illya heads over to the back of the trailer and join Yukari and the children. Yukari instructs everyone to huddle close to each other. The children obey and embrace her tightly. Chulainn, Illya and Yukari also wrap their arms around the children and each other.

Rin takes a deep breath as she drives her way towards the ditch. "I hope it fits through." She said to Shirou.

Shirou sighed. "Me too." He replied softly.

Rin glanced at Shirou and gave a quick smirk at him before turning back to the front. Finally, the truck reached the entrance of the ditch.

To everyone's relief, the truck barely fits through the ditch and the canyon walls scratched through the sides of the vehicle and its trailer. The jeeps behind the truck however weren't lucky. Because the drivers fail to notice in time, the front jeep finds itself crashing against the canyon wall, causing it to turn 90 degrees. By doing so, it blocked the entrance of the ditch for the remaining three jeeps. They end up crashing against the jeep that was blocking them and they all flip into the air and roll through the ditch.

As Ricky and Saber hang onto the top of the trailer and shut their eyes tightly, Gustavo slowly tries to get up and walks his way over to them. When he finds himself standing above Ricky, Gustavo attempted to bring down his fist at him.

However, Ricky looks up and smirked at Gustavo as he draws out his revolver and aims his weapon at his face. Gustavo gasped and widens his eyes in horror.

"Toodle-oo, mate." Ricky said to him. He pulls the trigger and a bullet shot through Gustavo's neck. Gustavo gasped in pain and gurgled in his own blood as he stumbled backward. He suddenly began wobbling about drunkenly, lumbering about wildly until his eyes rolled back and falls off from the trailer and plummet down to the sand below.

As Gustavo lands and rolls over on the sand, the damaged jeeps flip over and came crashing down on him.

\----

_**Broome, Western Australia** _

The townspeople gather and chatter as they stare at the large truck and its trailer that is parked around the town's roundabout.

Several police cars and an armored vehicle showed up at the scene. The officers quickly get out of their vehicles and rush over to the truck and trailer. As some of them go over to the back of the trailer, two officers swing the doors open while the others hold up their rifles and prepare to fire.

They quickly lower their rifles when they see all the missing children sitting inside, safe and sound. The boys quickly rush over to the officers and they help them get out of the trailer. As one officer places the brown-haired boy down on the ground, the child glances skyward as tears began welling up in his eyes.

"I'm…f-f-free…" The brown-haired boy managed to choke out right before a kind officer walks over to him and drapes her police jacket over him.

While some of the officers are busy getting the children out of the trailer, the others go over to the front of the truck.

To their bewilderment, they lower their guns when they see Uryu tied onto the hood of the truck with ropes. On top of that, he is dressed in nothing except his purple jacket and underwear. A file with the logo Matou Industries printed on its cover is also neatly placed on his stomach. With a look of despair on his face, Uryu slowly turned to the officers and took a hard gulp.

"Help me…please…" Uryu barely managed to whisper.

\----

Saber, Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Illya, Chulainn and Yukari cheered triumphantly as they clash their beer cans against each other. The seven mercenaries gathered at the side of their yacht and open up their cans to celebrate another successful mission.

After taking a gulp of their drinks, Chulainn wraps his arm around Shirou and holds up his can. "A toast to another sweet victory for us!" He cheered.

"And this ain't just another plain victory. With Uryu now behind bars and the police getting hold of those files, Matou Industries is absolutely fucked right now!" Shirou yelled, holding up his fist and clenching it tightly.

"They can try to cover their asses all they want, but no government in the world is going to take them lightly anymore!" Rin added enthusiastically.

"I would so love to see the looks on Zouken Matou's face right now!" Illya said with a huge grin plastered across her face.

"So do I." Saber added with a smirk.

"We all do." Ricky said, nodding his head.

"And it's all thanks to me!" Illya smiled as she proudly placed her hand on her chest.

"Yeah, right!" Rin narrows her eyes at her. "All you did was fire your gun while I was the one who drive us all to safety!"

"By going through that narrow path and scratching the vehicle and trailer in the process? Safety my ass!" Illya snapped and jabs a finger at her.

"I provided backup and cover for all of us!" Shirou cried, joining in on the discussion.

"Big deal. Saber and I took out most of the mercenaries." Ricky said, wrapping an arm around Saber.

"And I killed the most." Saber said to her second-in-command with a playful smirk.

"No, you didn't!" Ricky replied to her in annoyance. "The big guy I shot at the end was bonus points."

"What about you, Chulainn? What did you get to do?" Shirou asked Chulainn.

"Yukari and I protected the children and that's good." Chulainn answered his question.

"Wow, you resort to babysitting over shooting now?" Shirou chuckled as he rolls his eyes. "Man, you've gotten old."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Chulainn snapped furiously. The others laughed as Chulainn and Shirou began fighting and arguing among themselves.

"Yukari…" Saber said to Yukari. She turned around to see Saber lowering her head as her cheeks blushed. "I…really owe you an apology. You were right about what you said to me. It is more rewarding to arrest a criminal alive. And…I'm also sorry for…being rude to-"

Saber looks up when Yukari holds up her hand in front of her.

"It's okay." Yukari smiled tenderly at her leader. "I know what you're trying to say. I forgive you."

"Seriously? You would forgive me so easily?" Saber widens her eyes in surprise.

"Yup." Yukari nodded. "You're just like a student to me. As long as you learnt your lesson and realize what your teacher said is the truth, all is forgiven."

The two women laughed as Yukari lowered her hand. When they look back at each other however, Yukari's smile flipped into a dejected frown. "I guess even after three years, I still miss being a teacher."

Saber smiled warmly and places her hand on her shoulder. "You can always go back to being one if you feel like it. Even after whatever scandal you been through, being a teacher really still suits you."

Yukari managed to crack a small smile at her leader. "I will…when I have the courage again." She replied. Saber removes her hand as Yukari walks off and heads back into the yacht's main room.

Ricky gave a pat on Saber's back. Saber turned and Ricky smiled at her. "Are you free?" He asked kindly.

"Yeah." Saber nodded her head. The two turn to the ocean and lean against the railings of their yacht.

"Man…today's mission sure was an unforgettable experience, huh?" Ricky asked with his arms placed on the railing.

"Yeah, it sure was. I still have to give a report to Kiritsugu about our mission. I'm sure he will be very surprised to learn that I have kept another criminal alive for two missions in a row now." Saber said with a brief smirk.

Ricky lets out a sigh. "We promised each other that we would get rid of all the motherfuckers of this world, right? At the time, I thought killing them was satisfying. But I didn't realize until now that capturing them alive feels even better. If only every Justice system in the world can put every scumbag and smirking criminal behind bars without any problems whatsoever, this world would be a much better place right now."

Saber narrows her eyes as her face distorts into a dejected frown. "Yeah…" She said barely above a whisper. "I wish…"

\----

_**2 Years Ago…** _

As she hid behind a dumpster in an alleyway, Arturia look through her binoculars and gazed at the house on the other side of the road. She spotted Mariah stepping out of the building with a smile on her face. Arturia cursed under her breath. Seeing her smile after managing to walk out of the station scot-free pissed her off. Arturia waited patiently as she watched Mariah walks down the pavement with her hands stuffed in the pockets of her fur coat.

When she is finally out of her sight, Arturia gets out of the alleyway and makes her way over to Mariah's house. She takes out a crowbar and placed it at the edge of the doorway. She successfully pries the door open and steps into the house. Arturia puts her crowbar on a nearby drawer and makes her way into the living room.

She spotted a glass cabinet containing several trophies and photographs. Many of the photographs are Mariah standing next to several British parliament members and government officials. Arturia snorted when she sees that. Mariah may seem like a decent and friendly person, but she knows deep down inside, she's actually a cold-blooded killer.

Arturia looks down at the drawers underneath the cabinet. She pulls out the first drawer and sees a wooden photo frame placed inside upside-down. She picks it up and turns the frame around. She widens her eyes and gasped. Inside the frame is a photo of Mariah Dillard and another man standing above the lifeless body of Cornell Stokes. What is even more sickening is the fact that inside the picture, Mariah was smiling and holding up a knife in her hand.

Suddenly, the lights turn on. Arturia whirl about and sees Mariah standing at the doorway to her living room.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the hot-tempered officer who needed a chill pill." Mariah said as a cunning smirk takes form on her face.

Arturia glared at her as she places the photo back into the drawer. "So it's true…you did kill Cornell Stokes." She said icily. "And I can tell you take a lot of pleasure in doing so."

Mariah places her hands on both sides of her hip and gave Arturia a lopsided grin. "Yeah, it's true. I killed Cornell Stokes. I'm sure you've read the news that my political career began falling apart after it was discovered that I got my funding for my election campaign from a mob, which was true. So here I was, getting publicly humiliated and becoming the laughing stock of the nation while my goddamn cousin is still living in success and luxury as a restaurant manager."

Mariah's face distorts into an ugly scowl and her tone became bitter. "My parents always favor him over me even though they weren't the ones who gave birth to that motherfucker. So I worked hard to become a politician to show my shithole of parents exactly how powerful I really am than Cornell. And now, with my political career busted and slowing burning in flames, I'm back to square one, and that damn…fucking…Cornell is back on top."

She looks back up at Arturia and her frown quickly flipped into a huge malicious smile. "But thankfully, I still have connections with the mob who funded my campaign and they agree to help me take out Cornell. And damn, it was absolutely satisfying for me to finally kill that motherfucker who was always on top and in the lead. Hell, even the mob helped me kill his neighbor who witnessed the murder."

"Candace Miller." Arturia uttered.

"That's right." Mariah nodded. She folds her arms as she casually walks over to the officer. "The mob members serve as my informant. One of them spotted you talking to Candace and they report to me. I ordered one of them to keep an eye on her, and when I was brought over to the station, I informed him to call Candace over to Great Portland Street. That poor bitch thought it was you telling her to meetup. And when she showed up at the location, my man shot her down and leave no evidence behind. It's great when you have a group of people that no one has ever seen before being at your corner, right?"

"That was very smart of you, Mariah." Arturia said as the parliament member stood in front of her. "But this is where it all ends. I am going to bring you to Justice once and for all."

Mariah laughed in response. "Oh how cliché, officer. And how exactly are you going to bring me to Justice? Here's the fantastic part, for me anyways, as a parliament member, I have the power to sue you for breaking into my home. You will be arrested, have your police license revoked and be put behind bars, while I get to walk away from all of this scot-free. I'll leave the country and no one, especially you, will ever see me again. Face it, ma'am." Mariah leans forward to Arturia as a huge smile plasters across her face. "There's nothing you can do to stop me."

Arturia gazed at Mariah for a moment before she finally gave a chuckle. "That's where you're wrong."

Without warning, Arturia draws out her pistol and fires a bullet through Mariah's gut. Mariah gasped as her jaw plummeted and her eyes snapped open. She could only stand there helplessly as Arturia aims her pistol at her chest and fires another shot.

As Mariah falls to the floor on her back, she shook uncontrollably in fear as Arturia slowly walks over and stood above her. The officer looks down at her with a glare so cold that it made Mariah feel as if her insides had frozen.

"W-what the…f-fuck's wrong with you?!" Mariah managed to choke out as she lies on the floor with a pool of blood forming behind her body. "Y-you're a cop for fuck's sake!"

"After what you did?" Arturia aims her pistol at Mariah's forehead. " _ **Fuck no.**_ "

As soon as she pulled the trigger, Arturia's life was immediately thrown out of the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was the end of the Western Australia story arc. I hope you all enjoy reading it. Stay tune for the next chapter and read and review!
> 
> Also, this will be my last story update before the Lunar New Year so to all of my Asian readers, _Happy Lunar New Year!_


	9. Irkutsk Oblast, Part 1

_**Moscow, Russia** _

A train came to a halt in front of a platform shortly after its arrival at Yaroslavskaya railway station.

_"The train to Yekaterinburg has arrived. The train to Yekaterinburg has arrived."_

When the train doors automatically open, several passengers carry or drag their luggage and walk towards it.

Suddenly, the passengers flinched and stop at their tracks as soon as gunfire was heard. They scream and shriek in horror when they turn around and see eight people walking towards the train. Seven of them are men, armed with AK-47 rifles and dressed in black bulletproof vests, walking their way towards the train. The eighth person who is being dragged by her arm is a young adult woman with brown eyes, orange hair tied to a bun and dressed in a dark green business suit and dress.

Leading the group was a bald man with a short white beard and wears a brown suit, gray pants, black gloves and black boots.

The man turned to his left and ordered two of his men. "Igor, Piotr, secure the locomotive." Igor and Piotr nod their heads and jog over to the front railcar.

The leader now turns his head to the right and ordered two more of his men. "Erik, Yulian, keep watch at the back." Erik and Yulian obliged and head their way to the last passenger car.

The man turns back to his front and ordered his two remaining men walking behind him. "Nikolai, Pavel, come with me with the girl."

"I'm not a girl you-OW!" The woman cried in pain as Nikolai tightens his grip around her arm and gave her a rough push. The leader stands at the side of the open door and gestures Nikolai and Pavel to get inside along with their hostage.

"You will pay for this!" The woman yelled at the leader before Nikolai pushes her at the back of her head, causing her to groan in pain as the three entered the passenger car. The leader turn to the civilians who are still standing where they are and gazing back at him wide-eyed.

"This train is ours. Anyone who tries to come in will be killed. Now fuck off!" The leader shouted and fires his rifle in the air again, causing the civilians to scream and run off for their lives, not caring that they have left their luggage behind.

The leader turns around and enters the train. When he arrived at the lounge car, he sees Nikolai forcing the woman to get down on her knees and aims his rifle at her head. Pavel bows his head as their leader walks past him. He walks over to the table next to the bar counter and sat down on the couch.

The leader takes out his smartphone and places it next to his ear. "Train and hostage are secured, sir."

"Well done, Zakhaev. Now make your way to Irkutsk to collect the shipment. Then head over to Vladivostok and bring it to the port. You will meet my men there."

"Da, Mr. Kotomine."

\-----

**_2 Years Ago…_ **

**_London, England, United Kingdom_ **

Ricky finds himself being thrown head first into a bunch of garbage cans. Before he could take a second to have a breather, a man snatched him by his shirt collar and gets him up so that they come face-to-face.

"You goddamn fucking asshole! Thanks to you, my night is fucking ruined!" The man roared.

"Well, you certainly aren't going to get it back by beating the shit out of me." Ricky smirked.

With an angry yell, the man proceeds to deliver several punches to his face, shoulder and abdomen. Ricky groans in pain with every punch landed on his body. Finally, the man ended off with a well-aimed punch at Ricky's face, sending him landing on the garbage cans behind him.

However, the man's blind rage didn't end there. Ricky had ruined his night at the bar and he is still left unsatisfied with the punishment he had given him. He spotted an empty beer bottle from the ground and picks it up. With an angry growl, the man walks up to Ricky who still laid helplessly on the garbage cans, holds up the bottle above him and-

To his shock, a hand suddenly shot out of nowhere and grabbed his arm with an iron grip. The man turns his head and comes face-to-face with a blonde-haired woman dressed in a white long-sleeved blouse, dark blue skirt, black stockings and brown boots. The man stared back at her incredulously as despite her short height, the woman still possessed the strength of a heavyweight boxer.

"I think he's had enough." The blonde said to the man. The man struggled to break out of her grip with all of his strength but the woman kept her firm grasp as she lowers his arm.

When the man carelessly drops his bottle, the woman finally let go of his arm and the man backs away from her. "Mind your own business, little girl." He growled at her while clenching his fists tightly in rage.

"But you aren't." The woman responded flatly.

"BITCH!" The man roared and he swings his fist at her. The woman dodges the attack by stepping to the side. She swiftly delivers a powerful punch to the man's stomach. The man gasped in pain as the impact of the woman's punch caused him to lean over. The woman firmly grabs his shoulders and kicks him in the stomach with her knee.

As the woman continues her beating, Ricky was watching the display wide-eyed as he lies idly on the garbage cans. The beating came to an end when the woman punches him across his face and sends him stumbling to the ground.

"Now fuck off." The woman said to the man while cracking her knuckles. The man groans as he struggles to get up to his feet. Without a second thought, the terrified man staggers out of the alleyway, wanting nothing more than to get away from the blonde-haired demon in a white blouse and dark blue dress.

The woman momentarily watched the man making his departure before turning around. Ricky flinched as he comes face-to-face to the woman who had displayed herself as a demonic fighter earlier. To his surprise however, the woman gave him a calm and tender smile as she walks up to him.

"Are you alright?" The woman asked as she extends out her hand.

Ricky stared blankly at her for a moment before he responded with a sigh. "Not really. But I've been through worse." He replied as he wipes off the blood from the side of his lips and chin. He grabs her hand and the woman pulls him up to his feet.

The woman proceeds to help Ricky rub off the dirt and grease from his black jacket. "Sheesh, what the hell did you even do to get him piss off?" She asked.

"He was harassing and attempting to assault a woman inside the bar. I had to take action." Ricky answered, pulling away the strands of hair that were dangling in front of his eyes.

"Didn't know you're quite the gentleman despite your looks." The woman remarked, causing both of them to laugh.

"Hey, thank you for helping me." Ricky said gratefully.

"You're welcome." The woman strokes her blonde hair as she looks up at him. "What is your name?"

"Roderick. But you can call me Ricky. What's yours?"

"My name is Arturia. It's a pleasure to meet you."

\-----

_**20 hours after departure from Moscow…** _

_**Somewhere in Irkutsk Oblast…** _

As the train travels through the lush Siberian forests of Irkutsk Oblast in the night, Ricky finds himself standing on top of a passenger car while pointing his revolver at a purple-eyed woman with long olive green hair, who stood at the other side and aiming her own gun back at him.

Almost a day ago, his team received a mission from the Russian government that a homegrown terrorist named Imran Zakhaev and his men have kidnapped Eva Mikhailova, the daughter of a Russian minister. Thanks to Maiya's tracking skills, she helped the team discover that Zakhaev and his men are on aboard a hijacked train and are travelling their way to Vladivostok while making a checkpoint at Irkutsk.

Deciding that it would be best that only a single person can handle a kidnapping mission peacefully, Saber sent out Ricky to Irkutsk railway station while getting a ride from Rin. While the train made a stop at the station, Ricky goes over to the last passenger car and snuck inside. He stayed inside even after the train moved and continued its journey to Vladivostok.

About thirty minutes after the train had left Irkutsk, he leaves the passenger car and carefully climbs his way up to the top of the next railcar.

To his surprise, he finds a woman standing at the other side. They immediately respond to each other by drawing out their guns and aiming them at each other.

"Who the hell are you?" Ricky shouted at the woman, his voice drowned out by the strong winds and the loud sound of the rail tracks.

"I could ask the same question to you!" The woman yelled back.

Ricky narrows his eyes as he firmly places his finger in front of the trigger. "You're with him, are you?! Imran Zakhaev?!"

"What?! You mean that homegrown terrorist?! No, I'm not!" The woman bellowed.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?!" Ricky yelled again.

"I would have shot you long ago before you even say a word!" The woman responded.

Ricky gazed at the woman for a few more seconds before lowering his revolver. Suddenly, the train made a sharp turn when it arrived at a curved railroad. This caused a violent shake to the passenger car they are standing on. Ricky managed to keep his balance but the woman shriek as she falls backwards.

"Hey!" Ricky shouted in alarm as he rushes over to her.

The woman widens her eyes in horror as she was about to fall off of the train and meet her horrific demise at the bottom of the tracks. But thankfully, her savior arrived in the nick of time to wrap his arms around her and roughly push her over to the next railcar. The two remain flat on the top of railcar until the train adjusts itself back to normal when it travels back on a straight track.

The woman lifts her head up a few seconds later. She notices that in front of her, Ricky is lying on top of her body with his head pressed against her stomach and right beneath her breasts. Ricky then looks up and stares back at her.

"Are you alright?" Ricky asked the woman, confused by her incredulous stare.

"Y-y-yeah." The woman stuttered. "Now can you get off of me?"

Ricky looks down and realized the awkward position he is in right now. He immediately gets off and strokes his hair back as he sat down next to her.

The woman gets up into a sitting position and turned to Ricky. "Thank you for saving me." She said.

Ricky coughed as he tries to regain his composure. "You're welcome. So if you're not a terrorist, why are you here?"

The woman frowned. "I'm here to rescue someone."

"Eva Mikhailova?" Ricky arched an eyebrow.

"Who is she?" The woman asked in confusion.

"I guess it's someone else then." He shrugged.

"What about you? What is your business here?"

"To take down Imran Zakhaev and rescue the daughter of a Russian minister."

"The Imran Zakhaev?! He's on board this train?!" The woman cried incredulously. "No wonder why you mentioned him earlier."

"I guess we're both here for different objectives." Ricky said. "But I suggest that if we want to accomplish our missions, we need to stick together. What do you say?"

"Very well."

\-----

Erik and Yulian laughed as they sat on the floor in the middle of the passenger car while playing cards.

"Alright, alright, one more game and then let's get back to patrolling, ya?" Yulian said to Erik as he gathered and shuffled the cards.

Erik grumbled in response. "Okay fine. But seriously though, we are in a train in the middle of Siberia. I'm sure no one would ever intrude this train when we are in an area like that, ya know?"

As soon as he finished, there were two loud knocks on the door behind Erik. The two men yelp and turn to the door.

"What the shit just happened?" Erik said in alarm.

Yulian growls and gave a rough push on Erik's shoulder. "Go check on it, ya bum."

"Fine." Erik muttered. He gets up and grabs his AK-47 rifle which he neatly placed next to the side of the seats. As he picks up his own rifle, Yulian watched his friend walks over to the metal door to investigate. Unbeknownst to Yulian, the hatch door at the ceiling of the passenger car slightly opened.

"This is impossible. We are in the middle of Siberia. What could possibly knock-" As soon as Erik slides open the door, the woman quickly appears at the side and delivers a powerful punch right into his face and sends him sliding through the floor.

"What the?!" Yulian quickly holds up his rifle and aims at the woman. But unbeknownst to him, when Erik slides open the door earlier, Ricky opened the hatch and lands behind Yulian as he entered.

Ricky quickly kicks the back of Yulian's left leg, causing him to yell in pain as he drops down on his knee. Ricky uses the grip of his revolver to knock Yulian out by the back of his head.

The woman stomps her foot onto Erik's chest, pinning him on the floor. Erik looks up and sees Ricky standing above him.

"Where's Imran Zakhaev?" Ricky asked.

"As well as the payload you collected at Irkutsk?" The woman added.

"I ain't telling you shit." Erik growled. The woman responded by stomping her foot onto his left thigh, causing him to howl in agonizing pain.

"We only need your mouth to answer our questions. So we don't mind you losing your limbs." The woman said coldly.

"The lounge car! Imran is in the lounge car!" Erik howled.

"And the payload?" The woman asked.

"The next car after the lounge! Aaaahhhhh! Please let go!"

Ricky smiled at Erik as he waves his hand at him. "Spasibo." He said before he stomps his foot onto Erik's face, knocking him out unconscious.

Ricky looks up at the woman and smiled. "Nice work."

The woman smiled back at him as she nods her head. "My name is Reika." She extends out her hand to Ricky. "Reika Rikudou."

"Ricky Blade." He said as he shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Ricky." Reika placed her hands on both sides of her hip.

"How did you get into this train, Reika?" Ricky inquired.

"Back at Irkutsk station, I snuck and hid inside the second last railcar and stayed there until the train started moving again." She said.

"Right, Irkutsk." Ricky scratches the side of his head. "I heard this train started its journey at Moscow. Why would they make a checkpoint over there before continuing its journey to Vladivostok?"

"I know why." Reika's lips tug downward. "The reason why I was at Irkutsk is because…that is where those men have taken my daughter to. And now, she is on board this train."

\-----

Illyasviel grumbled under her breath as she leans back on her chair and taps her fingers impatiently on her work desk.

"I wish I was in Russia with Ricky and Rin right now. At least being in the middle of a Siberia forest is better than staying inside this boat doing nothing." Illya whined.

"And then what? Potentially ruining the mission with your loud mouth and big minigun through your earpiece?" Chulainn said as he closed the fridge after grabbing a can of beer.

"You got a loud mouth too, Cuchu!" Illya yelled back in frustration and jabs a finger at him.

Chulainn laughed as he sat down at the dining table along with Yukari and Saber. Shirou is busy cooking a Russian themed dinner for everyone at the kitchen.

"Boss, are you really sure it's alright for only one person to go on this mission alone? You should have also let Rin go along with him." Yukari asked Saber in concern.

"But someone has to pick him up after the mission." Chulainn said to her.

"Don't worry, Yukino-san. Ricky will be fine." Shirou reassured while his eyes are fixated at his cooking. "He ain't the boss's second-in-command for nothing."

"Shirou's right." Saber said to Yukari as she leans forward and places her arms on the table. Her eyes softened as she continued, "I know Ricky very well. He's a master of enduring pain and hardships. And that means even the most dangerous situations are absolutely nothing to him."

\-----

"I came from Volgograd. When I was only 16 years old, I was raped and became pregnant." Reika explained to Ricky as they sat together at the front row seats inside the passenger car." My parents discarded me because of my pregnancy so I was forced to quit school and grew up on my own. Months later, I gave birth to Jack and she was the only person in my life who I can rely on. I could have aborted her while I was still pregnant, but I cannot bear myself to give up an innocent life. I mean I couldn't hurt a fly, so how can I take away the life of a human child? Besides, I lost my family and friends. So my daughter, Jack, is the only person in my life now."

Ricky momentarily turns his head away from Reika. He frowned and clenches his fists on his lap tightly as he recollects the memories of his horrible past. Reika's situation reminded him so much of himself and his own family. How after his biological father died, things immediately turn around for him and his mother, and in the most horrific way. His mother was so emotionally depressed over his death that she began making frequent trips to the bar, hoping that the drinks will help her forget and overcome her grief. She ended up falling for another man in the bar and they got married without even giving a second thought. But little did she know that the man she fell for would turn out to be a violent, arrogant and abusive man who has no interest in being a parent and only wants her to be his personal sex slave.

Ever since his stepfather moved inside his home, his life turned into a living hell. His stepfather is a heavy drinker who constantly beats both him and his mother whenever he grows frustrated over the most mundane things. His mother is too afraid to do anything about his violent behavior and just lets herself serve as a punching bag to him. He refuses to spend his money on anything except alcohol and drugs until eventually; Ricky was finally expelled from school when his parents can no longer afford to pay for his school fees.

Ricky himself also became depressed afterwards. His life and future were ruined. He could no longer go to school and his dreams of being an athlete dashed. He also began going to bars to drink alcohol, but it also serves as an excuse to keep himself away from home as long as he can, hoping that his pathetic excuse of a stepfather would go to sleep by the time he comes home. But occasionally, whenever he doesn't go to sleep when he returns, he will immediately beat him up to a bloody pulp, not caring if he does it in front of his mother. He blames his mother for marrying herself to an awful man and how their lives turn into a living nightmare because of her. However, at the same time, he still sympathize her. He understands that his mother became depressed because of the death of his biological father and she still doesn't deserve the constant mindless beating from his stepfather. He has thoughts of running away, but he can't. He can never allow himself to leave his mother behind with a monster. She may have been a partial cause to his miserable life, but she is still the woman who gave birth and raised him.

The same can be said for Reika. Like Ricky, her life became a nightmare after something awful happened to her. She could have blamed her unborn child for the miserable life she now has, but she can never allow herself to abort her. No matter what, it is still an innocent life that has done nothing wrong. If she had done so, she is no different than the man who raped her.

"How I wish to see that beautiful and innocent smile on her face again." Ricky turns back to Reika when she continued. "I always see it every time she finished eating my pelmeni."

"Pelmeni?" Ricky said.

Reika nods her head as tears began forming in her eyes. "Ever since I was young, I dream of being a chef and opening up my restaurant. My daughter tries out the food that I cooked for us and while they aren't always perfect, she would always smile at me after she finished our dinner. Every time I see her smile, she encouraged me to become a better cook so that one day, I can quit my job as a prostitute and start my own catering business. But one night, after coming home from work, my daughter was nowhere to be found. She was gone. I noticed that the windows were opened and the lock was broken, making me realize that she had been kidnapped. I couldn't believe what had happened that night. While the police was searching for her, I spent the next three weeks going around the city, getting information from various people in the underground world, trying to find my daughter's kidnappers and hoping that one day I can reunite with her. I was about to lose all hope, until recently, I was told by someone that he knew what happened to my daughter. It turns out she was taken away by mercenaries, working for a Japanese security company called Matou Industries."

Ricky gasped. "Matou Industries…"

"He then told me…horrible things…" Reika choked as she began to tremble and her tears freely cascade down her cheeks. "He said…they did experiments on her…turning her into…a freak of nature…He then told me to go to Irkutsk…because that is where they have taken her to…and he was right."

Reika buries her face into her hands and sobbed. Ricky's face distorts into a scowl as he silently watched.

_'Fucking hell.'_ Ricky thought. _'First kidnapping children in Australia…and now this. What are they up to?'_

Reika managed to suppress her sob for a moment. She wipes away her tears and managed to croak, "If I don't get Jack back…I'll be alone...all over again."

Ricky firmly places his hand on her shoulder. Reika turned to him with puffy red eyes. "I know how that feels. So I'll do everything I can to help you rescue Jack. We'll get her back, I promise." He said solemnly.

Reika could only respond to him by nodding her head. Ricky gave a gentle pat on her back before he gets up from the seat and draws out his revolver. "Let's get going." He said.

Reika gets up and takes a moment to rub her eyes. She lets out a sigh before drawing out her pistol.

"Right." She replied. Ricky turns to the metal door in front of him and slides it open. The two carefully make their way outside as the strong winds ruffled their hair and clothes.

After Reika closes the door, the two kneel behind at both sides of the door to the next railcar. While kneeling, Ricky slides open the door. He swiftly gets up, holds up his revolver and momentarily scans the area.

After making sure no one is inside the railcar, Ricky gestures Reika to get up and follow him. The two entered the railcar and Reika closes the door behind them.

As the two slowly walk through the empty passenger car, Ricky lowers his head and narrows his eyes, as memories of his past come flooding back to him once more.

\-----

_**2 Years Ago...** _

Ricky and Arturia laughed as they walk down the pavement in a small and quiet residential area together.

"Seriously? You did all that just to get a mug of beer?" Arturia asked as she tried to contain her laughter.

"Well yeah. I'm such a desperate guy. I'll do anything to get what I want." Ricky said with a wide grin as his hands are stuffed inside his pockets.

The two eventually arrived in front of a lone pavement leading towards a run down four-storey tall residential apartment that is surrounded by a metal fence. The building is left unpainted thus exposing the dark and light red bricks that made up the walls. There are also pieces of crumbled papers and other sorts of trash lying around the grass near the entrance, which nobody bother to pick up.

"Well, this is where I live. It ain't much, but it's still home to me." Ricky said sheepishly as he and Arturia gaze at the building in front of them.

"Eh, no need to be ashamed." Arturia shrugged. "I lived in an apartment too at the other side of London."

The two turn their heads and stare wordlessly at each other for a moment before Ricky decides to break the awkward silence, "I um…had a great time talking with you tonight, Arturia."

"Likewise." Arturia said with a wan smile.

"Umm…don't mind if…we can share each other's numbers?" Ricky asked nervously.

Arturia chuckled. "Sure."

Ricky perked up as he felt his demeanor being lightened up. The two took out their smartphones and exchange their numbers with each other. They put them back into their pockets after doing so.

"I will…"Ricky struggled to speak as he rubs the back of his neck. "See you around?"

"Yes. Hopefully I can hear from you again." Arturia smiled warmly at him.

Ricky blushed and waves his hand at her. "Goodbye."

"Bye." Arturia responded by waving back at him. After Ricky turned around, he lifts his head up and cracks a smile before walking his way back to his apartment.

\-----

Upon entering the building and stepping into the small dirty hallway, Ricky lets out a sigh with a mixture of sadness and anxiety. _'I can't believe I'm back here.'_

Ricky walks down the hallway and makes his way to the staircase. When he arrived at the third floor, he could hear a scream, followed by a loud smack. Ricky's eyes snap open.

"MOM!" He cried in horror. He rushed to the door to his home and swings it open. Upon entering his home, he sees his mother lying helplessly on the marble floor of the living room. Standing above her and with his back facing Ricky is a man with a blonde goatee and dressed in a black Newsboy cap, a black jacket, a pair of blue jeans and black shoes.

The man turned and sneered, "Oh hey, mug. Welcome home."

"What the fuck did you do this time, Dean?!" Ricky bellowed as he strides towards his stepfather.

"Oh nothing. You were taking too long to come back home. So I just got a little angry and thankfully, your mother is here to help me out."

Unable to control his anger, Ricky swings his fist across Dean's face. Dean swiftly responded by delivering a punch to Ricky's stomach.

"Stop!" Ricky's mother screamed as she watched the two men fight. Dean completely ignores her as he continues delivering several more punches to Ricky's face and stomach.

After Ricky backs away, he tries to retaliate by giving a few punches to Dean's abdomen. But the punches didn't hurt him the slightest and his stepfather responded by giving a few more punches across his face, ending off by delivering a well-aimed punch to his nose and sends Ricky sprawling through the floor.

"Stop it, please! I beg of you!" Ricky's mother screamed again. Ricky panted and lifts his head up to see Dean walking over and standing above him. With his arms crossed, Dean nonchalantly spits onto the floor and it landed next to Ricky.

After wiping off the blood from his lips, Ricky said to his stepfather while quivering with rage, "Don't you ever hit my mother again."

"Oh you want another round of beating, eh?" Dean said as he takes a step forward. "I don't mind-"

"STOP!" Ricky's mother howled as she rushed over and stood between her son and husband. "Please Dean, I beg you. That's enough."

Dean snorted and rolls his eyes. "Ah, your son ain't worth my time anyways."

"Go fuck yourself, Dean." Ricky retorted.

"That's enough!" Ricky's mother turned around and kneels down to her son. She gently rubs her hand across the bruise on Ricky's left cheek. Her voice softened as she stares back at her son with a worried frown. "Please Roderick. Just stop. There's nothing you can do about this."

"So you're just gonna get punched, slapped and kissed by this fucking asshole for the rest of your life?" Ricky asked his mother incredulously. His mother responded by lowering her head in shame. Ricky's eyes widened in horror as he uttered, "I don't fucking believe this."

Dean grabs his mother by her arm and roughly pulls her up. He wraps his arm around her and pulls her into a tight embrace.

"You heard her, boy. There's nothing a little shit like you can do. So know your fucking place." Dean jabs a finger at Ricky before he plants a sloppy kiss on his mother's cheek. His mother flinched as it felt like poison burning through her veins.

"If that's how you feel, so be it!" Ricky yelled at his mother before getting up and heading straight to the door.

"Roderick!" Her mother cried as tears pour out of her eyes.

"Yeah, that's right. Get out of here, you fuck." Dean sneered as he watched his stepson makes his departure. "Run away from me and your problems like the little chicken you are. That's all you're good for, ya mug."

Ricky could hear Dean giving him a final insult before he steps out of his home and slams the door behind him.

\-----

Ricky sobbed as he stood in the middle of a bridge outside his neighborhood. Stupid Dean. Stupid mom. Stupid everything! Ricky had enough of the both of them. He hates Dean for making his and his mother's lives a living hell. He hates his mother for marrying herself to a madman and a monster.

Ricky is tired of it all. He is tired of getting beaten by Dean every day and night. He is tired of watching his mother getting abused and violated by this psychopath. It was bad enough that he has lost his father, but now his mother had made their lives even more painful and depressing by bringing Dean into their lives and let him destroy everything they ever had. And the sad thing is, there is nothing her can do about it.

Ricky wished he had the strength and power to fight Dean back. To protect his mother from the constant abuse she had to endure every day. But he can't. Dean is too strong for him and no matter how much he tries to fight back, he will always triumph as the victor in the end, always proving to him that he will always be here to stay and cement himself into their lives forever.

He had enough. He had enough of this miserable and pathetic life he had. Without a second thought, Ricky pulls himself up and climbs over the top of the railing. As he stood there, he looks down and sees the raging river below him. Ricky nods his head, confident that the height between him and the river is high enough to end his life.

_'There's nothing left for me anyway.'_ He thought to himself. With one final sniff, he shuts his eyes tightly and…

Suddenly, Ricky felt the back of jacket being pulled. He yelps as he finds himself falling backwards and landing onto the road on his rear. He looks up and suddenly, a hard slap swung across his face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Arturia scolded as she stood in front of him. Ricky didn't bother to respond. He just sat there with his head lowered and his eyes gazing on the rocky pavement. Lowering her voice, Saber rebuked him in a calm tone, "Only a coward would resort to committing suicide. And if you had done that, then you had both lived and died as one."

"How did you even find me?" Ricky asked, still staring at the pavement.

"I never left the neighborhood." Arturia replied. She sat beside Ricky and gently placed her hand on his back. She asked him soothingly, "What's wrong?"

Ricky sniffed as tears form in his eyes. He violently tried to suppress them but a single tear is able to pour out of his eye unchecked. "I-I-It…It's my mom…and my shithole of a stepfather…"

"Your stepdad?" Arturia said in confusion.

Ricky slowly nods his head and he struggled to speak between his sobs. "Ever since my mom married that asshole…my life turned into shit…every single day…my stepdad fucks with my mom…beats the shit out of me…I had to endure all the pain…the suffering…because there's nothing I can do about it…fucking nothing…"

Arturia stared at Ricky wordlessly as he paused momentarily to bite down on his lower lip. He took a hard gulp as a few loose tears trickled down his cheeks.

"I'm done Arturia…I'm fucking done…I had it…I'm sick and tired…of the way he treats me and my mom…I hate him…I wish he had never fucking come…into our lives…" He finished by burying his face into his arms, sobbing in despair as he became consumed by inconsolable grief.

A few moments later, Ricky's sobs were swiftly suppressed when he felt a pat on his shoulder. Ricky lifts his head up with pained confusion and he slowly turned to Arturia, finally staring at her face-to-face and noticed the look of dead seriousness on her face.

"You want to get rid of that fucker?" Arturia asked flatly. "Then you do as I say."


	10. Irkutsk Oblast, Part 2

Ricky peeks through the glass window of the door. Inside the passenger car, there were six men dressed in white ski masks, white uniforms, light gray gloves and light gray boots. They are all armed with AK-47 rifles. Placed in the middle is a large rectangular metal vault. Four of the masked men stood vigilantly at all four corners of the vault. The remaining two men are standing at the back of the passenger car and both sides of the door. Ricky kneels down and hides behind the side of the door. He looks up at Reika who is kneeling at the other side.

"Mercenaries. Working for Matou Industries." Ricky said to Reika.

"You know them?" Reika asked.

"Yeah but," Ricky shrugged. "Let's just say we ain't buddies."

Reika turns her head to the other side and sees several glass windows at the side of the passenger car.

"How many standing at the middle?" Reika inquired.

"Four." Ricky answered. "Why-"

Ricky abruptly cuts himself off when Reika gets up and hangs onto the side of the passenger car. She carefully places and slides her hands across the ledges of each glass window as she moves sideways.

"Alright then." Ricky said as he pulls down the hammer of his revolver. He gets up and slides open the door.

The mercenaries turn to the door and see Ricky nonchalantly entering the passenger car. Ricky flashes a quick smirk at them before he swiftly holds up his revolver and shot down the mercenary on the left.

The remaining five mercenaries snarl as they instantly hold up their rifles and fire back at Ricky. Ricky quickly hides behind one of the seats.

As the mercenaries continue firing, Reika suddenly kicks through the glass window and knocks down the mercenary on the right. She gets up and draws out her pistol, shooting down the remaining four mercenaries with military precision. After the remaining mercenaries drop to the ground, Reika reloads her pistol and walks over to Ricky who got up from his hiding place.

"Are you alright?" Reika asked. Ricky suddenly holds up his revolver and fires a shot. Reika whirled about and sees the bullet shot through the forehead of the mercenary whom she had knocked down earlier and was about to fire his rifle at her. The mercenary drops his rifle as he rolls his eyes back and slumps to the floor.

"Thanks." Reika said to Ricky.

"Did I say that me and these guys ain't buddies? Scratch that. We were _never_ buddies." Ricky jested. The two walk over to the metal vault placed in the middle of the passenger car.

"Could this be?" Reika said nervously, placing her hand gently on the vault door.

"Only one way to find out." Ricky said. Reika takes a deep breath before she and Ricky wrap their hands around the round-shaped handle. They slowly turn the handle continuously until they heard a deep click. The two open the door, letting the cold white breeze out of the vault.

Upon seeing what is inside the vault, Reika gasped as her eyes widened in mortified horror. It was a small girl with white short tousled hair, scars across her right cheek and underneath her left eye, dark purple ring-shaped tattoos on her shoulders. She had bandages wrapped around her arms and dressed in a black sleeveless vest, black panties, black stockings and dark purple shoes.

"Jack…" Reika uttered before placing her hands over her mouth. Ricky steps forward and carefully grabs the girl by her arms. He picks her up and gently sat her down on the seat beside him. "What have they done to you?"

Ricky places his fingers on Jack's wrist. "She's alive. I can feel her pulse." He said to Reika. He moves aside to allow Reika to stand in front of her daughter and stroke her hand across the scar on her left cheek.

"Jack..." She whispered.

Suddenly, the girl flinched. She groaned as she groggily opens her eyelids, revealing her dark green pupils. Her chest rose and fell as she draws a few sharp intakes of breath.

"Jack?" Reika said to the girl again. The girl tilts her head slightly upwards to come face-to-face with the woman standing in front of her. She squints her eyes as she slowly got a clear vision of her.

"Mommy?" The girl said barely above a whisper.

As if the words came out from her mouth had torn through her heart, Reika's eyes soon began to brim with tears. "Jack!" She howled and threw her arms around her daughter. "J-J-Jack…oh Jack…I've found you…"

"Mommy…" Jack whispered to Reika while staring blankly into space.

"Jack! I'm sorry…I'm so sorry! I never should have left you at home…I…I am so sorry…So sorry…" Reika bawled unhappily.

"Mom…" Jack momentarily took a gulp as tears form in her eyes. "I was so scared…"

"So was I, Jack…" Reika sniffled. "So was I…"

After momentarily watching the reunion between a mother and her daughter, Ricky turned his head away and frowned as he began dwelling into his memories of his past.

\-----

**_2 Years Ago…_ **

Ricky's mother wipes the coffee table with a wet cloth in the living room of her apartment. As soon as she finished, Dean lets out a huge burp as he slouched on the couch behind her while holding an empty beer bottle.

"Get me 'nother can, will ya?" Dean said, holding up the empty bottle in his hand. Ricky's mother silently grabs the bottle from him and turned around. Dean gave a slap on her butt as she walks off.

"Good to see you haven't changed, Dean."

The two turn their heads to the direction of the voice. Ricky's mother stared at her son in awe as he stood at the doorway.

"Roderick…" His mother said softly.

"Well, well, well, look who finally got the guts to come back here after three days. Where have ya been, mug?" Dean sneered.

Ricky glares at Dean for a brief moment before he calmly walks over to the windows at the side of the living room.

"Ah, giving me the cold shoulder, eh? Or are ya scared to talk to your pops?" Dean mocked. Ricky ignored him as he pushes up the window, sliding it open. He turns around and stuffs his hands into his pockets, finally facing his mother and stepfather. Ricky's mother frowned at her son worriedly.

"Roderick, what is going on?" His mother asked in concern.

"Yeah Ricky, what's with your cold demeanor today?" Dean chuckled.

Ricky flashes a smirk at them and shrugs his shoulders. "Oh nothing wrong, really. It's just that, I got a wonderful announcement to make. I've finally decided to move out of this place."

"Oh really?" Dean arches an eyebrow.

"That's right. A friend of mine has offered me a job, as well as a new place to stay." Ricky smiled warmly.

"That's good to know. I'm really happy for you." Ricky's mother said weakly. Then, to the surprise of his mother and stepfather, Ricky extends out a hand to her.

"And mom, I want you to come along and live with me." Ricky said calmly to her.

But as soon as her mother lets out a blissful sigh and was about to walk over to her son, Dean abruptly stood up from the couch and yelled ferociously at Ricky's mother, "STAND BACK, BITCH!"

Ricky's mother yelped as she backed off. Dean swiftly turned to Ricky and jabs a threatening finger at him, "THE ONLY WAY SHE IS EVER GOING TO SEE YOU AGAIN IS WHEN YOU ARE IN A FUCKING HOSPITAL, YA HEAR?!"

Ricky's face distorts into an ugly scowl and his hands curled up into fists.

"Dean, calm down. Please, just leave him alone." Ricky's mother pleaded to Dean in terror. She turned to Ricky and said to him, fearful for her son's life, "Roderick, just go. Please, just go."

"That's right. Listen to me and your mom, you lousy waste of life." Dean snarled, jabbing his finger at his stepson again. "You got a place to stay, that's good. But your mother fucking stays with me. So just get the fuck out of here…and never come back."

Ricky slowly nods his head in response. "So you're not going to hand over my mother? Fine."

As Ricky slowly lifts his arms up, his fists form into two trigger fingers, pointing directly at Dean. Dean sniggered while Ricky's mother frowned in confusion.

"What the fuck is this, eh?" Dean asked with a lopsided grin.

"Guess what Dean? For the last three days, my friend taught me to be a stronger person. And now, thanks to her, I got what it takes to stop you." Ricky said calmly.

Dean snickered and nods his head. "I see...you just want to get your ass kicked again. Fine bye." Ricky's mother drops her jaw in horror as she sees him removing his belt from his pants, folding them in half and straightens it.

"Dean, stop! Don't hurt him!" She cried.

"Shut up!" Dean barked at her. Ricky's mother flinched. "Your son asked for this, and as his father, it's my job to make him know his place."

"Go ahead Dean. Try and stop me if you can." Ricky said. Dean turns back to him with a snarl. "But let me tell something. You don't deserve my mother or be cemented into our lives, Dean Baker. You are just an arrogant, selfish and disgusting piece of shit, who thinks that he got power and control over me and my mom. Well guess what, Dean? Today…I'm the one who has power and control… _over you._ "

" _Ricky…shut…the fuck…up._ " Dean growled, emphasizing every word he said. He began striding over to Ricky, ready to strike him with his belt and deliver his biggest punishment to his stepson yet. "I am going to shove your power and control right up your-"

Before he could finish, Ricky casually gave a sudden jerk of his right trigger hand. Suddenly, Dean froze and his eyes almost bulged out of his sockets. Ricky's mother gasped as she drops the empty bottle and plants her hands over her mouth.

Dean slowly lowers his head. To his shock and horror, he sees a hole, penetrated through the bottom of his left lung. A pool of blood began to form on his black jacket.

Without warning, Ricky now gives a sudden jerk of his left trigger hand and another bullet shot through Dean's body, going through underneath his right lung. His mother muffled a scream.

Dean lets out an agonizing moan as he falls down on his knees. Ricky lowers his hands and slowly walks over to his stepfather. His mother just stood there, watching the display in shock and utter disbelief as her son unzips his jacket and inserts his hand underneath it. As he slowly tilts his head up, Dean's jaw plummeted and his eyes widened when he sees his stepson pulling out a ball peen hammer from underneath his jacket. Ricky gave Dean a glare so cold that it sends chills down his spine.

"Like I said, you are a piece of shit." Ricky said coldly. Without hesitation, Ricky holds up his hammer above Dean's head.

"N-n-no!" Dean managed to choke out a final plead before Ricky brings his hammer down and smashes it directly onto his forehead. The impact cracks Dean's skull like an eggshell and sends him toppling over to the floor like a sack of bricks.

"OH GOD! NO!" Ricky's mother lets out several cries as her son continuously brings his hammer down onto Dean's head, showing absolutely no mercy to his stepfather even after his life had slipped away and he is now nothing more than a motionless corpse.

He never stopped smashing Dean's head with his hammer. He kept on hitting him over and over again until he finally felt that he had finished letting out all of his frustration and hatred towards Dean.

After delivering the final blow to Dean's bloodied head, Ricky backed off and drops the ball peen hammer onto the floor. He wipes off the blood from his hands and face before looking up at his mother who is now cowering against the wall with her eyes wide and her hands placed over her mouth.

She slowly removed her hands and stuttered between her heavy breathing, "W-w-what…h-h-h-have…you d-d-d-done?"

Ricky's eyes softened as he stares back at his mother. "I did what I have to do…to get you back in my life." He walks over Dean's lifeless body and strides over to her. He kneels down in front of his mother and gently places his hand on her cheek. "Mom, I'm not like my real dad. But I'll do everything I can to take care of you. Support you. Protect you. Because I'm the only man whom you can rely on."

Tears flooded in her eyes as she stared back at her son. His mother wraps her arms around Ricky and sobbed uncontrollably on his shoulder. Ricky sighed as he embraces his mother and rubs her back as she trembled.

_"You did good, Ricky. You killed him like a true assassin."_ Arturia spoke through Ricky's earpiece.

As his mother continue bawling on her son's shoulder, Ricky places a finger on his earpiece and replied to Arturia, "Thanks for the help, Arturia."

\-----

"No problem. And tell your mother not to worry. The cleaners will be at your doorstep within a minute. After they finished taking care of the body and removing the evidence, let your mother go with them. As for you, meet me at the Millennium Bridge."

Arturia removes her finger from her earpiece after she is done talking to him. She removes her sniper rifle from the window of a room located in the third floor of the apartment building right across Ricky's home. She slides down the window before turning around and making her departure, not forgetting to remove the tranquilizer dart from the neck of the man lying down on his bed unconscious.

\-----

A few seconds after the doorbell rang; Ricky opens up the door, revealing two almost identical red-eyed women dressed in white maid outfits.

"Hello, Mr. Blade." The woman on the left greeted as both of them bowed their heads.

"You must be Sella and Leysritt." Ricky said to them while his mother stood behind him and watched.

"Yes." The woman on the right, now known as Leysritt responded. "Where's the body?"

"Just over there at the living room." Ricky gestured them to step into the house. He steps away from the doorway, allowing the two women to enter his home and walk over to Dean's corpse. As Sella and Leysritt proceed to do their work, Ricky turned around and places his hand on his mother's shoulder.

"Don't worry mom. Everything's going to be fine now."

\-----

"Ricky?"

Ricky snaps out of his thoughts when he heard Reika calling for him. He turned his head and sees her still kneeling in front of Jack with her hands placed on the girl's shoulders.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ricky gave a small nod. "How's Jack doing?"

"She'll be alright." Reika said. She turns back to her daughter. "Jack, this is Ricky Blade. He helped me rescue you."

Jack smiled weakly at Ricky and waves her hand. "Hello Ricky. Thank you." She whispered.

Ricky chuckled and ruffles Jack's hair. "You're welcome."

"So what are we going to do now?" Reika inquired.

"My mission isn't over yet." Ricky replied as he holds up his revolver. "I still need to hunt down Imran Zakhaev and rescue the minister's daughter."

Reika stands up and move aside to allow Ricky to walk over to the door. "I'll stay here and look after Jack." She said to him.

"Right. Take care of yourselves. I'll come back for the both of you later." Ricky said as he placed his hand on the door handle.

"Thank you so much for your help." Reika beamed at him with gratitude.

"You're welcome." Ricky smiled back at her before he slides the door open and makes his way to the next passenger car.

\-----

"What do you plan on doing with the woman after we arrived at Vladivostok, Mr. Zakhaev?" A blonde-haired man dressed in white suit asked Imran as he sat in front of him inside the lounge car. Standing behind him were two masked mercenaries armed with AK-104 rifles.

"I actually plan on tossing her to the tracks and let the train run over her. I wasn't going to let her live anyway." Imran smirked maliciously. Eva gasped in horror as she kneeled beside the table with Nikolai standing next to her and pointing his rifle at her head. She is unable to get up as her wrists and ankles are tied with cable ties. "Her father and the rest of the Russian government are a disgrace to my beloved homeland after all. They want to seek peace with the United States and the Western world, thus destroying our economy, culture and national pride in the process. That's why I'm going to teach them a lesson by starting up my own party whose primary objective is to create a proud and powerful Russia again." Imran briefly turns to Eva, giving her a diabolical glare. "And I shall start my conquest by killing her first. Her death shall serve as an unforgettable lesson to the current government." He turns back to the man and a warm smile plasters across his face. "And with the help of Matou Industries, my dream can become a reality. If your Grail chemical and Od serum work perfectly that is, Mr. Sagara."

After removing his cigarette and blowing out the smoke, Sagara looks back at Imran with a smirk. "Trust me, Mr. Zakhaev. That shipment we brought into the train is proof that the serum we are working on is a success. After we show it to Mr. Matou, which is definitely going to make him very happy, you and your men will be our very first clients to try out the Grail chemical and Od serum and help introduce it to the rest of the world."

"Music to my ears." Imran said. "I do feel sorry for your boss and everyone in your company though, I mean after what happened in Australia."

"Indeed." Sagara frowned with his eyes darkened. "Uryu's arrest and the revealing of the documents was a huge blow to Matou Industries. But thankfully-"

"Mr. Sagara!" A masked mercenary yelled as he entered the lounge car. Everyone present turn to him.

"What's so urgent that you had to rudely interrupt my conversation with our client?" Sagara berated, glaring at the masked mercenary in annoyance.

"Sorry sir." The masked mercenary said apologetically as he stood up straight and salutes to his superior. "But we have intruders in the train."

"Tch." Imran grits his teeth angrily. "Erik and Yulian are such incompetent fools."

Sagara gets up from his seat and drops his cigarette. He stomps on it and draws out his pistol. He replied to the masked mercenary with a sly smirk, "Then let us give our visitors a warm welcome, shall we?"

\-----

Ricky reloads his revolver after shooting down every masked mercenary in the passenger car he is currently in. He silently walks past the dead bodies and makes his way to the door.

In the next passenger car, six masked mercenaries are kneeling and standing behind the door, holding up their rifles and preparing to fire at their intruder.

The door slides open and the mercenaries immediately fire. But a few seconds later, one of them realized that they have been firing at thin air and he yelled to the others, "STOP!"

The mercenaries stop their firing and lower their weapons. They stare blankly at their front, wondering where their intruder had gone off to. Their answer came when suddenly, six well-aimed shot through the ceiling and into the heads of all six mercenaries kneeling and standing below.

After their bodies drop to the floor, Ricky removes the hatch and enters the passenger car. He rolls over the floor as he landed. He turned around and clucked disapprovingly as he shakes his head.

"Tch, tch, tch. So predictable."

Ricky then turned to the side and his eyes narrowed. There are metal crates placed next to each other and on the seats. He turned around to find more similar-looking metal crates on the seats at the other side of the passenger car as well.

"What the hell are these things?" Ricky mumbled.

Suddenly, the door at the other end of the passenger car opened. Ricky whirled about and holds up his revolver as he comes face-to-face with Sagara and Imran Zakhaev. Standing behind the two men are the three remaining masked mercenaries.

Imran holds up his rifle and said to him menacingly, "You pull that trigger and I'll still have plenty more bullets left to mess up your body real good."

Ricky narrows his eyes at the bald man. "You must be Imran Zakhaev." He said before turning his head to Sagara. "And who's this jackass?"

Sagara chuckled in response as he straightens his jacket. "Come now, boy. Is that any way to talk to your host? My name is Hyouma Sagara. Why don't you just calm down and have a normal chat?"

"You can start by answering my question." Ricky said, gazing at Sagara and steadily aiming his revolver at him and Imran. "What the hell are these crates? And what do they contain?"

Sagara holds up his hand, gesturing Imran to lower his weapon, which he obliged. Sagara walks over to one of the crates. He opens it and took out its content, revealing a stainless steel cylinder-shaped canister.

"A brand new serum created by my company, Matou Industries. It can help forever change the way humanity handles warfare." Sagara said with a proud smirk.

"Od." Ricky said coldly. "I know about that. How the fuck are you guys still operational anyway? I thought your company got into a big pile of shit after information about Grail and Od came out from the arrest of Uryu Ryunosuke."

"True. Mr. Matou got into deep water after the exposure of his plans to create the Grail chemical missiles and Od serum. But thankfully, Uryu's hideout in the Great Sandy Desert isn't the only factory in the world where we and Mr. Matou can seek refuge in. Right now, we're stationed in, how should I say…" Sagara momentarily paused to rub his chin. "A place with a tropical climate, where Matou Industries can yet rise themselves from the ashes again."

Sagara suddenly yelped when without warning, Ricky fires his revolver, knocking off the canister out of his right hand. Imran and the mercenaries quickly hold up their rifles but Sagara holds up his other hand again, stopping them from firing.

"You Matou Fuckers think you can control mankind with this sick, twisted invention of yours?! Fuck you!" Ricky bellowed, pulling down the hammer of his revolver. "It doesn't matter if you guys are still operational. No matter how long it takes, we're going to fucking wipe your company's existence off the face of the Earth!"

Sagara laughed maniacally at Ricky as he shakes his right hand.

"You think we're monsters? We are helping the world eliminate war cleanly! With this serum and Grail, countries no longer need to waste valuable money and resources in their wars."

"While you fat cats sit at the sidelines and earn billions of dollars through the blood of human lives. Face it; you folks at Matou Industries are no different than terrorists."

"Think of what you will. But that Od serum we've created, not only does it makes people invincible to our chemical weapons, but also stronger. In fact," Sagara inserts his left hand into his pocket and pulls out a remote. "Let me give you a demonstration." He turned to Imran. "Mr. Zakhaev, you said you wanted to know if this serum actually works, well sit back and enjoy the display."

As soon as he presses the button on his remote, Ricky gasped and widened his eyes in horror, realizing who Sagara may be controlling.

\-----

Reika and Jack sat together quietly in the passenger car. The woman smiled tenderly at Jack and strokes her hair affectionately as the child slept on her shoulder.

Suddenly, Jack's eyes snap open. Reika looked back at her confused.

"Jack?" She said in concern.

Jack clenches her fists tightly as she looks up at Reika. "Hostile…located…"

\-----

The instant his mind became a chaotic swirl of panic and terror, Ricky whirled about and ran.

"REIKA! GET OUT OF THERE!"


	11. Irkutsk Oblast, Part 3

_CLANG!_

"Aaahh!"

Reika howled as her back slams against the back of the metal vault. She recovered just in time to see Jack running over to her with her fist pulled back. Reika quickly moved to the side right before Jack slams her fist against the vault, leaving a huge dent on it.

"Jack! What are you doing?! It's me!" Reika cried in terror.

Jack swiftly turns her head to her. "Must eliminate all unrecognized entities."

Reika squealed in horror before turning around and running to the back of the passenger car. Jack followed her, but stopped for a moment and turned to the front of metal vault. She reached her arm into the vault and grabs a belt of dagger pouches placed inside.

Jack turned around and coldly gazes to her front as she attaches the belt around her waist. After putting on the belt around her, she sprints off and chases after her mother.

\-----

Upon entering the next passenger car, Reika froze as Erik, who had recovered from his unconsciousness, stood at the other end and aims his rifle at her. Yulian is still lying on the floor in his unconscious state.

"Don't fucking move, bitch." Erik said threateningly with his eyes narrowed. "You're gonna pay for beating the shit out of me."

Without warning, a dagger swiftly flies past the side of Reika's head and stabs directly through the center of Erik's forehead. Erik's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he drops his rifle and sent falling to the metal floor on his back.

Reika gasped in horror. She whirled about to see Jack standing at the doorway. She pulls out two daggers from the pouches of her belt and gets into a fighter's stance.

"J-J-Jack, it's me! Don't do this!" Reika cried as tears form in her eyes.

Jack didn't say a word as she sprints towards Reika. She proceeds to continuously swing her daggers both horizontally and vertically at her mother who barely dodges her attacks by backing away from her. When they reach the center of the passenger car, Jack delivers a powerful kick onto Reika's stomach, sending her sliding through the floor. Jack pounces onto Reika and sat on her stomach. She twirls her daggers before stabbing them through Reika's hands, pinning her onto the floor.

Reika responded with an agonizing shriek. Jack stoically stared at her mother as she trashed about uncontrollably in pain. Despite her short stature, Reika felt the weight pushing and pinning her down on the metal floor as Jack firmly sat on top of her. No matter how much she struggled, she can never get out of Jack's clutches.

Jack pulls out another dagger from her pouch. Reika's eyes widened in horror as she helplessly watched Jack holding the dagger up in the air and aiming it directly at her face.

"NOOOO!" Reika screamed one last time before Jack brings her dagger down at her.

However, while the dagger is still in mid-air, a bullet was fired and knocks the dagger out of Jack's hand. Jack whirled about and sees Ricky standing at the doorway, holding up his revolver with smoke coming out of its muzzle.

"Ricky!" Reika cried as she looked up at him.

"Jack! Snap out of it! She's your mother for God's sake!" Ricky bellowed at her.

Jack wordlessly got up from her mother and pulls out two more daggers from her pouches. Ricky snarled as he and Jack both get into their fighting stances.

"Jack, please. Do not make me do this." Ricky begged.

"You are a hostile." Jack said icily. "You must be eliminated."

Jack swiftly dashes over to Ricky. When she is near him, she jumps in the air and swings her daggers vertically at Ricky. Ricky dodges her attack by rolling to the side. Jack lands on the ground and her daggers stab through the metal floor. She pulls her daggers out as she got up and whirled about. Ricky fires a few shots at Jack with his revolver. The girl swiftly deflects the bullets with her daggers as she strides over to him.

After deflecting the last bullet, Jack dashes over to Ricky again. Before he could even react, Jack swings her dagger diagonally and knocks the revolver out of his hand. Ricky backs away from Jack. He yelps as he felt pain surging through his hand. Sure enough, he looks down and sees blood pouring out from a diagonal cut on his right hand.

"Ricky!" Reika cried in horror as she noticed her ally's injuries. She turns to her left hand which still has one of Jack's dagger stabbed through its palm. Reika groans as she wraps her fingers around her blade and tries to pull it out, ignoring the blood pouring out of her fingers. She lets out a cry as she managed to remove it. She tosses the dagger aside and proceeds to pull out the other dagger stabbed through her right hand.

Meanwhile, Ricky lifts his head up to see Jack swinging one of her daggers to swipe the blood off from its blade. She swiftly charges over to Ricky and attempted to stab his face with her dagger. Ricky barely grasps her wrist in time and he comes face-to-face with the tip of the dagger's blade. Ricky uses all of his strength to hold Jack's arm from bringing it and the dagger down onto him. Ricky gave a twist, causing Jack to yelp as she drops the dagger. But Jack later breaks the stalemate between the two by kicking the bottom of Ricky's chin with her knee. As Ricky backs away, Jack swiftly grabs him by his neck. As she turns around, she tosses Ricky into the air and slams him onto the metal floor on his back as she brought him down.

Ricky turned around and tries to stand up but Jack suddenly swings her dagger across his left upper arm, causing him to yell in agony as he falls to his knees. Jack proceeds to slash her dagger across his right shoulder, left thigh, right lower arm and finally his chest. He howled with every slash Jack made on him. Jack grabs him by his neck again and lifts her dagger up in the air.

Ricky could only stare back at Jack helplessly. The child is too strong for him and he is too injured to fight back. Perhaps in the end, his mission has ended in failure and his life ends here. He closes his eyes, grimly waiting for the inevitable.

_'I'm sorry, mother'_

Jack proceeds to bring the dagger down, ready to end Ricky's life.

"NOOOOOO!"

The scream causes Ricky to snap his eyes open, realizing that Jack's dagger had not pierced through his body. He lifts his head back up to see what has happened. He gasped and widened his eyes.

To his shock and horror, Reika was kneeling right in front of him and Jack had stabbed her dagger directly into her chest.

"REIKA!" Ricky shouted.

As Jack stared emotionlessly at her mother, Reika began coughing blood out of her mouth. She slowly wraps her hands around Jack's wrist and she managed to utter the words out despite the pain surging through her body.

"Jack…Don't…do this…Ya lyublyu…tebya"

Jack's eyes widened as she lets out a gasp. Hearing those words coming out from her mother snapped her out of her thoughts. As she continued staring wordlessly at Reika, memories of past began flooding back into her head.

_"Mommy, mommy, mommy! I'm hungry! I want food right now!" Jack cried excitedly as she pounds her fork and spoon on the dining table._

_Reika giggled as she walks over to her with two plates of food. "Don't worry dear. I'm coming." She places one of the plates in front of Jack, causing her to grin and widen her eyes with glee. "Your favorite! Pelmeni!"_

_"Yummy!" Jack squealed. She instantly grabs a pelmeni with her fork and stuffs it inside her mouth. She only chewed for a brief moment before swallowing it. Her body shook uncontrollably for a moment before she lets out a loud cry of joy, "Delicious! I love it, mommy! Thank you!"_

_Reika laughed and ruffled her daughter's hair affectionately. "You're welcome, my dear." She replied._

_Jack looks back at her mother with a wide smile. "You're the best, mommy! Ya lyublyu tebya!"_

_"Ya tozhe tebya lyublyu, Jack."_

Jack's eyes were now flooded with tears.

"Ma…ma…" Jack uttered.

"Jack…" Reika uttered one last time before she closes her eyes. Her head tilts to the side and her hands slump and hang freely at her sides.

Jack lets go of her hand from the dagger, letting Reika fall to the floor. Both Jack and Ricky did not say a word. All they could do was stare at Reika's motionless body lying on the cold, metal floor, their faces distorted with horror and shocking realization.

As the tears freely roll down her cheeks, Jack managed to gather what little voice she had as she murmured hoarsely, "What have I done?"

The silence was interrupted by a slow clap. Jack looked up and Ricky turned around to see Hyouma Sagara standing at the doorway, slowly applauding at the display Jack had orchestrated. Imran Zakhaev and the mercenaries stood behind him as they were watching as well.

"Well done, Jack. Well done." Sagara said with an evil smirk.

"You are right, Mr. Sagara. Your serum has worked wonders. This is truly the perfect serum for my men to overthrow the current Russian government." Imran said with a huge malevolent grin taking form on his face.

"What did I tell you, Mr. Zakhaev? Our company is truly the best." Sagara said to him. He turns back to Jack and his teeth broke out into a wide grin. "You did good eliminating one of our intruders, Jack. Now finish him off as well."

With tearstained eyes, Jack looks back at Ricky, who narrows his eyes and grits his teeth as he stares back at her.

"Jack, please don't do this." Ricky pleaded. "Look what they did. What they made you do to your mother."

Jack frowned and turns back to Reika who lay on the floor motionlessly. Noticing this, Sagara and Imran narrow their eyes.

"Jack? What are you doing? I said, finish him!" Sagara ordered.

Jack turns back to Ricky and stared wordlessly at him for a moment before she bites down on her lower lip and her hands wrapped around her daggers began to tremble.

Sagara snarled at this display. Is his subject beginning to show signs of emotion and restraint? No. He will not allow this. He must prove to Zakhaev that the Od serum is working perfectly. Otherwise, he will never buy his company's products and he will lose both his job and credibility at Matou Industries. He inserts his hand into his pocket and withdraws his remote.

"God dammit Jack! When I give you an order, you should obey!" Sagara bellowed at her before pressing the button on his remote. Jack screamed as she finds herself throwing her head back. The serum inside her is taking control of her body and senses again. When she leans over, she clutches the sides of her head and writhed about uncontrollably. Harsh and unbearable agony is now ripping through her body.

"Jack! You have to be strong! You got to fight it!" Ricky cried at the child.

"Don't listen to this asshole! Listen to me! Only me!" Sagara bellowed at Jack as she continued to struggle with her senses.

"S-S-STOP!" Jack managed to squeal in pain as she shook her head frantically. "S-S-STOP IIIITTTT!"

"JACK! HANG ON!" Ricky cried again.

Imran snarled. "Enough of this! If this child won't finish the job, I will!"

"No Mr. Zakhaev!" Sagara panicked and tried to protest. "I assure you this is just a minor malfunction-"

"Shut up!" Zakhaev snapped at Sagara. He holds his rifle up and aims at the back of Ricky's head. "Time to put an end to this nuisance!"

Suddenly, Jack shot her head up and growled aggressively at Imran. Without giving him a chance to react, Jack throws the dagger towards Imran and it stabbed through the center of his right thigh.

"AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Imran lets out an agonizing yell as he froze and drops his rifle.

"What the-" Sagara said incredulously.

Jack pulls out her remaining two daggers from her pouches and lets out a ferocious battle cry. Ricky, Sagara, Imran and the mercenaries watch silently as they remain where they are.

"Jack…" Ricky uttered in awe.

"Don't just stand there! Shoot her!" Sagara ordered the mercenaries behind Imran angrily as he jabs a finger at Jack. Snapping out of their dumbfounded state, the mercenaries lift up their rifles and aim at Jack.

Before they even have a moment to pull the trigger, Jack dashed past Ricky and sprang into action. Sagara lets out a scream of terror as Jack pounces onto one of the mercenaries and stabs her dagger through his right eye. She jumps over to the second mercenary and stabs her dagger into the area where his heart is. Finally, she jumps over to the third mercenary and delivers a horizontal strike at his throat with her dagger. The third mercenary gasps and gurgles in his own blood as he falls to the floor.

Imran turned around. His eyes widened in horror as he sees Jack slowly approaching him from behind. He lets out a brief horrified yell before Jack charged at him and stabs her dagger into his abdomen. As he stood there, Imran momentarily moaned and trembled before Jack slashed her dagger out from his abdomen. His intestines and huge amounts of blood pour out from the gash as Imran fell to his knees. Jack then swiftly stabs her dagger through the back of Imran's head and pulls it out. Imran rolls his eyes back as he slumps to the floor and lies on his own pool of blood and organs.

Jack coldly turns her head to Sagara, who shriek as he falls to the floor on his rear and cowers in terror. As Jack walks up to him, Sagara said barely above a terrified whisper as his eyes shook, "I-I-I-It w-was…n-never supposed to be like this!"

Jack momentarily gave Sagara a blank stare before she briefly twirl her daggers and clench them firmly onto the hilts. Sagara lets out a horrified scream before Jack charged forward and stabs her daggers through his right eye and heart. He gave a final gasp of air before his hands limp freely at his sides. Jack removes her hands from her daggers and backed away, letting Sagara's head slump to the side.

Jack turned to Ricky and tears pooled in her eyes again. "Ricky…" She sniffed. "I'm so sorry…"

Ricky gulped as he momentarily stared at Jack in silence. As he turns away, Ricky groans in pain as he slowly gets up, trying to resist the pain coming from the cuts on his chest, thigh and arms. He staggers over to Reika and drops to his knees beside her. As Jack goes over to her mother as well, Ricky placed his right hand on her shoulder and turned her body, letting her lie flat on the floor.

"Reika? Reika, are you alright? Reika!" Ricky called out as he nudges her.

Reika moaned in response as her eyelids slowly open. Squinting up through her half-closed eyes, she moaned weakly at Ricky, "Ricky…is that you?"

"It's me, Reika. I'm here." Ricky whispered.

"Oh…I see…" She looked to the person next to him. "Jack?"

"Mama…"Jack muttered as she weeps uncontrollably.

Reika grits her teeth as fresh tears form in her eyes. "Jack…"

"Mama!" Jack cried. Reika managed to flash a weak smile at her.

"It's good…to see you…again…" It was all Reika managed to say before passing out again. Ricky places his fingers on her wrist and sighed in relief as he could feel her pulse.

Jack stared wordlessly at her mother's injured state as she just stood there and letting her tears flow down her cheeks like tiny rivers. Her expression is badly distorted by the emotional pain that tore furiously through her heart. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe what she had done to her mother. Her poor mother who had risked her life to come here, only to be brutally injured by her own daughter whom she came to rescue.

"M-mother…" She sniffed. "I'm s-s-so sorry…"

Jack never wanted to hurt Reika. It was the serum inside her that made her do it. It made her lose her mind and injure her mother and her friend. If only she could turn back time. If only she never got kidnapped by those evil men. If only she could have stopped herself from hurting her mother.

Then it hit her. She remembered back at the factory where the evil men had brought her to turn her into a weapon, they were pouring the very same serum inside her into several canisters and placing them into metal crates. She could remember seeing the men pushing these crates before Sagara put her to sleep inside that vault. If she woke up inside this train, then surely, those metal crates containing the serum should be here as well.

She had to destroy them. She had to stop those evil men from injecting the same serum inside her into other people and prevent them from hurting their own loved ones as well.

Jack pondered how she is going to destroy them. Even if she destroys the canisters one by one with her daggers, they will still leave a single ounce of serum left inside or spill onto the floor. No. She can't let a single ounce of it exist. Unless…

Without a second thought, Jack whirled about and ran off.

"Jack?" Upon hearing her footsteps, Ricky turned in time to see Jack sliding the door open and heading to the next passenger car. "Jack!"

\-----

Nikolai and Eva turn to the doorway as Jack slides open the door to the lounge car.

"What the hell?" Nikolai said dumbfounded. Jack draws out her daggers and gets into a fighting stance. Nikolai growled as he holds up his rifle and fires at Jack. Jack charges over to Nikolai and dodges the bullet in incredible speed.

Nikolai gasped as Jack pounces onto him. She goes over to his back and stabs her dagger into his throat. Eva screamed in horror as she watched the gruesome display in front of her. Jack slashes her dagger across Nikolai's throat, letting huge amounts of blood to pour out from the gash she had made.

Jack then jumps off of Nikolai as the man collapses onto the floor. She turns to Eva who yelps and cowers in fear.

"Don't kill me, please!" Eva begged for her life. To her surprise however, Jack swings her daggers and cuts off the cable ties around her wrists and ankles. She momentarily rubs her wrists. "Thank y-" Before she could properly thank her savior, Jack had fled. Eva turns her head to her right and sees the door at the end left open.

Eva turns to the other side as Ricky enters the lounge car. He goes over to the Nikolai's lifeless corpse and stares at it for a brief moment before turning to Eva. "You must be Eva Mikhailova." The woman nods her head in response. "Did you saw a little girl with white hair?"

"Yes. I saw her going over to the next passenger car." Eva said, pointing at the door on her right. Ricky looks up at the open doorway and frowned.

_'Is she making her way to the locomotive?'_ He pondered.

He snaps out of his thoughts when he and Eva tripped over by a sudden strong jerk. They could feel the train travelling five times faster than its normal speed.

"What's going on?!" Eva cried as she and Ricky got up from the floor.

Ricky widens his eyes in horror. "Don't tell me she is planning on sending this train on a collision course?!" He yelled in alarm.

"This is the Irkutsk Oblast, right? I heard from my father, the transport minister, that there is railway works going on at the border between Irkutsk and Buryatia." Eva said.

Ricky lowers his head as he came to a sudden realization. _'Of course. There are still canisters of Od serum inside this train. She's actually planning on destroying this train, with the serum in it!'_ He turned to Eva and said, "We got to get the hell out of here!"

He quickly gets up to his feet and grabs Eva by her arm. He helped her get up and they both whirl about and run their way to the back passenger cars.

\-----

Inside the locomotive, Jack stood behind the control panel, firmly pressing the lever down with her hand. The lifeless bodies of Pavel, Igor and Piotr lay on the floor behind her.

Jack wipes away her tears as she boldly stared at the front. The Od serum is inside her body and it may never be taken out. Her mother is gravely injured and on the verge of death because of her, but at least she can take comfort knowing that she had killed the man who controlled her and made her partially responsible for what happened to Reika.

And at least her life can come to an end, with her setting things right.

\-----

"Reika." Ricky said softly as he nudged her again. Reika slowly opens her eyes and sees Ricky and Eva kneeling in front of her. Eva frowned at her as the sight of Reika's injured state pains her deeply.

"Ricky…" Reika whispered. "Where's Jack?"

"She's in the locomotive. She brought this train up to maximum speed, sending it to a collision course and destroying the serum in the process." Ricky answered.

"I see…" Reika moaned.

"We got to get you out of here." Ricky tries to wrap his arms around her, but Reika firmly places her hand on his arm.

Reika slowly turns her head and gave him a weak smile. "It's alright, Ricky. Leave me here. At least Jack and I…can die together in peace. You promised me…that you'll help me get her back…and you did. Spasibo, Ricky."

Ricky took a gulp before bowing his head. "Proshchal'nyy privet, Reika." He responded to her. Reika closes her eyes and her head slumps to the side.

Eva places her hands over her mouth and tears form in her eyes while Ricky gently places Reika's hand down on her lap. He turned around and gets Eva up to her feet. "Come on, let's go." He said. The two ran out of the passenger car, leaving Reika behind.

\-----

After getting out of the passenger car, Ricky places his finger on his earpiece. "Rider, get me the fuck out of here!"

_"Don't worry Assassin. Travelling to your location now." Rin responded._

__"__ And you better make it quick!" Ricky said before hanging off his earpiece. Eva watched him turn around, jumps up and grabs the edge of the top of the passenger car with his hands. He winced in pain as his chest made contact against the car, but he shook it off and climbs his way up to the top.

When he reached the top, he kneels as he turned around and extends his hand to Eva. "Grab my hand!" He yelled out to her. Eva obliged. She jumps up and Ricky quickly catches her hand. He pulls her up and Eva finds herself kneeling on the top of the passenger car. As the two lay low, Ricky places his finger on his earpiece again.

"Rider, where the fuck are you?!"

_"Right beside you."_

Ricky and Eva turn their heads to the side and sure enough, they see a Lamborghini Huracan driving past the tall forest trees and making its way over to them while travelling in almost the same speed as the train.

When the Lamborghini is driving right beside the speeding train, Rin lowers the side windows and retracts the roof of the car before yelling at them, "GET IN!"

Ricky wraps his arms around Eva, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Do you trust me?" He asked her.

"Da." Eva replied with a nod. The two got up and carefully back away. Ricky then did a running jump while Eva clings tightly onto him. She screamed as they find themselves plummeting through the air. But they soon landed safely into the back seats of the Lamborghini. Eva looks up to find Ricky lying on top of her as he turned to Rin.

"Hang on!" Rin said to her passengers as she pulls back the lever and reverses the car.

\-----

With a weak smile plastered across her face, Reika closes her eyelids and made one last whisper before she finally embraced the inevitable.

"Jack…"

\-----

Jack tosses a dagger which knocked against a lever in the distance. As the lever is lowered, the railway tracks are switched, leading the train to the next track on the left side.

After closing the door, Jack smiled weakly as she lowers her head and closes her eyelids, letting her tears pour down her cheeks unchecked.

"Mommy…"

\-----

A few moments later, the train past through several construction vehicles that were parked at the sides of the railway track. When the train reached the end of the rail line, it flew out of the tracks and came crashing into a tree.

As it collided against the tree, the locomotive exploded and it causes an exploding chain reaction to the passenger cars that were attached behind it.

\-----

After the Lamborghini came to a halt, Ricky, Rin and Eva got out of the car and watched the flames burning in the distance.

Clenching his fists tightly, Ricky frowned and uttered, "Reika…Jack…"

\-----

___**2 Years Ago…** _ _ _

When he arrived at the Millennium Bridge, Ricky immediately spots Arturia standing at the center smoking a cigarette. He walks over to her as Arturia removes the cigarette from her lips and breathes out the smoke. Arturia turns to Ricky and drops her cigarette onto the pavement.

"Well done. I've taught you well." Arturia complimented as she steps on her cigarette. "Although your shit excuse of a stepdad is only the beginning."

"So what happens now?" Ricky asked with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

Arturia flashes a warm smile at him. "Now…you are ready to come along with me. You swore that you will fight alongside me and wipe out every unforgivable scumbag on Earth. So come with me, and together, we'll teach every single one of them a lesson."

Ricky narrows his eyes. Arturia said the truth. He could still remember how shocked he was when Arturia suggested killing his stepdad. When he tried to back out, Arturia told him about her past. How when she first became a cop, she thought she could help change the world and that good will always come to those who are in need. But she was wrong. The Justice system is fucked up. There always had to be rules, regulations, evidence, trials, whatever the fuck obstacle there is before Justice can be delivered. And the shittiest people of all always take advantage of that and get away with it.

She also told him how once; she came across a case about a man named Colin Rini pushing his own pregnant wife down the stairs. The woman survived but the unborn baby was killed in the process. This drove the woman into sorrow and despair and despite her pleads to the police to convict her husband for murder; it cannot be done because of lack of evidence. Disheartened by this, the woman committed suicide while Colin got to live the rest of his life scot-free, much to Arturia's anger and frustration. But after leaving the police force a year later, Arturia finally got the chance to deliver the punishment that Colin rightfully deserves. She followed him to a hotel where she spotted him spending the night with a prostitute. When morning came and after Colin bid farewell to her, Arturia was already waiting inside the room for him as he reentered. Arturia drew out her gun attached with a silencer and shot Colin right in the stomach. After also proceeding to shoot Colin in the arms and legs, he screamed in agony and begged her to spare his life. Of course, Arturia wouldn't allow it. After all, Colin killed his unborn child without a second thought. Why would Arturia ever think to do the same to him? She finally shot a bullet through his forehead, ending his life and finally delivering the punishment he should have gotten a year ago. Somehow and amazingly, Arturia got out of the place without leaving a single piece of evidence afterwards.

Ricky had experienced how much a load of crap the law is first-hand with his stepfather. How he can always get away with beating up him and his mother, and there's nothing the police can do to help them just because Dean isn't doing all of that in public and their bruises aren't solid evidence to back up their claims.

He is tired of it all. How shitty scumbags like Dean Baker can always get away with whatever the hell they want. He wants to help people out. People like him who had to deal with the pain and sorrow caused by unpunished assholes every day. And with Arturia's guidance and tutelage, he may have the power to accomplish that.

Ricky smirked as he extends his hand out to Arturia. "Let's do it together."

A wide smile plasters itself across Arturia's face before she grabs his hand and shakes it. "From now on, your code name is _Assassin_. And you will refer me, as _Saber_."

\-----

"Huuuhhh?! What do you mean you rejected Miss Mikhailova's request to have dinner with her at the Kremlin?! Don't you know it's a luxury to have dinner in the official residence of a head-of-state?! Not to mention even having dinner alongside a gorgeous woman?!" Chulainn said incredulously at Ricky as they sat next to each other at the dining table inside the yacht.

After he and Rin returned from their mission in Russia, Ricky was immediately given medical attention from Shirou and Illya and now, the second-in-command had stitches to close every cut on his body and bandages wrapped around his chest, shoulder, arms and thighs. Meanwhile, Eva returned back to her father safe and sound and the Russian government expressed their gratitude to the mercenaries they had hired to rescue her, as well as putting a permanent end to Imran Zakhaev, although Ricky felt they shouldn't get credit for that as it was Jack who eliminated him.

"First of all, I _kindly_ rejected her. Second, we are mercenaries for fuck's sake, Cuchu! We got to keep a low profile, ya know?" Ricky shrugged.

"Somebody's got the right idea." Saber said as she and Rin walk over to them.

Rin sighed as she and Saber sat down with them. "Can't believe you are less intelligent than someone eleven years younger than you, Chulainn. You are growing old real fast."

"Oh come on! That's not it! It's just that you know, how can someone reject a request from such a beautiful lady and having dinner in a freaking palace, that's all." Chulainn said.

Saber shakes her head and places her arms on the table. She turned to Ricky as she sat next to him and solemnly frowned, "So Matou Industries is still operational even after all those documents we recovered in Australia were exposed."

"Yeah. They may have gone into hiding but they are still producing Grail and Od right now, even as we speak." Ricky said grimly. Rin and Chulainn grimaced.

"It looks like our mission to take down Matou Industries is far from over." Chulainn commented.

"And if you're right about that Od serum being able to control people and removing their free will, they are even worse than they already are." Rin added.

Saber lets out a sigh before speaking, "We're not going to give up. We'll keep on fighting and put an end to their schemes." Ricky, Rin, Chulainn solemnly nodded in response.

"I will not let them hurt and make use of innocent people ever again." Ricky vowed. Saber smiled as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Ricky turned to his boss and asked, "Saber, would it be alright if this weekend, we can go to London so that I can pay my mother a visit? I would like to meet up with her and know how she is doing lately."

Saber nodded. "Of course."

"Here you go, Ricky. The leftovers from last night's dinner." Shirou said as he walks over and places a plate of dumplings onto the table. "Pelmeni. Delicious meat dumplings made by the Russians."

Ricky gave a small gasp upon looking at the food in front of him. He couldn't help but feel some grief tearing through his heart right now.

"Um, is there something wrong?" Shirou asked in concern, noticing the troubled look on Ricky's face.

Ricky gave a wan smile at Shirou and shook his head. "No Shirou. Everything's fine." He picks up his fork and spoon and said before eating his meal, "Davayte yest."


	12. Ha Long, Part 1

_**1 Year Ago…** _

_**Ljubljana, Slovenia** _

As they sit inside the back of their truck, three men watched a woman with brown shoulder-length hair typing on her laptop which is neatly placed on the floor in front of her. The woman smirks as the video feed is up onscreen.

"Drone is officially live." The woman said.

"Alright Mitsuzuri, fly the drone into the building." Emiya Kiritsugu ordered.

"Got it." Ayako Mitsuzuri responded as she picks up her joystick. Kiritsugu and the other men gaze on the screen as Ayako flies the fly-sized drone towards a wide hotel built in gothic European architecture.

Ayako carefully flies the drone through a glass window. As soon as it entered, she and the men noticed several men dressed in casual clothes and bulletproof vests either standing behind or kneeling under the other glass windows.

"We got several hostiles at the windows, armed with regular and sniper rifles." Ayako said as she takes a moment to fly around the room and analyze their enemies.

"Keep moving." Kiritsugu said. Ayako flies the drone out of the room through the open door. As the drone flies through an open area, they notice the walls are filled with bullet holes and there are paper littered everywhere on the floor. The drone picks up some chatter.

As soon as they heard it, Ayako stops the drone for a moment and rotates it around. She stops when the drone is facing the direction where the chatter signal is at its strongest. She flies towards the direction of the signal until they came across a huge pair of wooden doors.

"Please sir! Spare these people! I'm the only one you want!" They could barely hear a voice speaking when the signal became clearer.

"That's the room where the hostages are held alright." A man with dark blue hair and glasses said as he kneels behind Ayako.

"Get inside there." The third and last man with messy orange hair said to Ayako.

"Looking for a way, Shirou." Ayako said as she turns the drone around. She quickly spots some bar grilles next to the top of the doors. She flies the drone over and carefully gets it through the narrow openings of the grilles.

The drone enters the conference room and the group takes a minute to analyze the scene. They see several men also dressed in casual clothes and bulletproof vests aiming their rifles at a group of men and women dressed in business suits, kneeling in front of a wall and have their hands placed behind the back of their heads. At the long wooden table placed in the middle of the room, a white-haired elderly man dressed in a brown suit is pleading to the group's primary target.

Their target's head and face are entirely concealed as he wore a golden masked helmet with strands of blonde hair flowing out from its back. He is also dressed in a black body suit with dark blue stripes, golden gauntlets and gloves, golden boots and a dark blue mantle draped over his shoulders.

"We found the prime minister." Ayako said.

"As well as our target, Avicebron." Kiritsugu added.

"Why the horrified face, Mr. Prime Minister? Aren't we humans all the same? We are all born to die, regardless if we're innocent or guilty." Avicebron asked as he pulls back the slide of his pistol.

"But sir! What's the point of killing these people?! Taking away a life is nothing of value!" The prime minister howled.

"And that…"Avicebron said firmly as he jabs his finger onto the prime minister's chest and stare straight into his terrified eyes. "…is why the creation of man is God's greatest mistake."

Without warning, Avicebron aims his pistol at the civilian kneeling at the far right of the wall and shot bullet through the back of his head.

"NO!" The prime minister yelled in horror while the other civilians resist their urge to scream and could only silently whimper in fear. Uncaringly, Aviceborn stores his pistol back into his pouch as the prime minister lowers his head and whimpered.

Ayako closes her laptop and puts aside her joystick.

Kiritsugu places his finger onto his earpiece and spoke, "Maiya, they just executed a hostage. We are going in  _now_."

"Roger that, sir." Maiya replied.

"Let's take this fucker down." The dark blue haired man said as everyone got up and grab their rifles.

"What about the other civilians?" Shirou inquired as he holds up his sniper rifle.

"We can worry about that later, Shirou. Taking down Avicebron and rescuing the prime minister are our first priority." The dark blue haired man said to him.

"Issei is right." Ayako nodded solemnly.

"Let's go!" Kiritsugu barked before he pushed the doors open and begin the mission.

* * *

Yukari walks over to the dining table where Saber, Shirou and Illya are sitting around and waiting for her. Illya grins and sniggers as they look up at her.

"What is it you want to talk to me about, ma'am?" Yukari inquired.

"Yukari, today you will be going through some training under Shirou." Saber said.

"Training?"

"Yup." Shirou nods his head. "Precision training to be exact."

"What's that?"

"It means shooting, duh." Illya answered as she rolls her eyes.

"Shooting?! As in you want me to carry and use a gun?!" Yukari asked incredulously.

"If you are going to be a member of this group, you need to adapt." Saber said to Yukari sternly. "I've assigned Shirou to be your guide and instructor."

"And I get to come along with you too, to make sure you are actually learning under Shirou's tutelage." Illya smiled at Yukari as she places her hands on the sides of her hip.

Yukari looks down at her hand nervously. She had never once thought of holding a gun in her life. She could still vividly remember what her parents and teachers taught her when she was a child, that once you pull the trigger of a gun, the stains on your hand will not be easily removed.

"Are you nervous?" Shirou asked Yukari.

"Yeah." Yukari said, looking up at him with a worried frown. "It's just that-"

"Don't worry! Holding and using a gun feels just like playing a first-person shooter!" Shirou gave her a huge grin as he places his hand on her shoulder. Yukari stared back at him with her eyes wide and her mouth gaping open in bewilderment.

"T-that's not…" Yukari struggled to say, but she gets interrupted again by a pat on her back from Illya.

"Relax Miss Yukino! You were a teacher, right? So you can view this both like a school trip and a home tuition!" Illya laughed.

"You know there's a difference between tuition and physical training, right?" Yukari murmured.

As Illya escorts Yukari out of the main room, she placed her finger on her earpiece, "Rin, take us near the shore."

"You got it." Rin responded.

"Shirou, make sure you train her well." Saber said to him solemnly.

"Understood, ma'am." Shirou replied before getting up from his chair.

"By the way Shirou, how's Ricky doing?" Saber asked.

Shirou sighed. "He still needs time." He answered grimly.

"I see." Saber's eyes softened. "You are dismissed."

Shirou nods his head and silently walks his way out of the main room, following Yukari and Illya from behind. Saber blew out a sigh as she takes out her box of cigarettes and a lighter. Ever since returning from his mission from Siberia, Ricky became strangely quiet and he had rarely made any contact and communication with the other members of the team for the last week. He had only appear at the dining area for meals and shortly afterwards, he would either go back to his room or slink off to a corner of the yacht to wade in a pool of his thoughts. Not even Chulainn been able to talk to him despite sharing the same room as him.

Saber sadly inserts a clean cigarette through her lips and lights it up. All she could do is to wait how things will turn out and hope for the best.

* * *

_**Ha Long, Vietnam** _

Shortly after Rin stopped the yacht kilometres away from the shores of Quang Ninh Province, Shirou, Illya and Yukari got into the motorboat. They turn back to the yacht where Rin, Saber and Chulainn are standing at the port.

"Take care of yourselves, guys." Rin said to the three onboard the motorboat.

"We will." Shirou replied as he sat in the driver's seat while Yukari nodded her head.

"Don't worry, Rin. As long as I'm with them, Shirou is going to be just fine." Illya said to Rin with a devilish smirk. Rin snorted as she turns her head away and rolls her eyes.

Illya smiled back at Saber and Chulainn and waved goodbye to them. "See ya!"

"Bye bye!" Chulainn replied as he, Saber and Rin wave their hands back. Shirou drives the motorboat away from the yacht and towards the Vietnamese shores.

After the trio left, Chulainn turned around and walks back into the interior of the yacht. Rin turns to Saber and noticed the grim look on her leader's face.

"You're concerned about him too, huh? So am I. All of us are." Rin said. Saber wordlessly turns her head to Rin as she gave her boss a pat on her shoulder. "Perhaps you should try talking to him. You're both his boss and the closest person to him after all."

Rin turned and walked off, leaving Saber standing at the port to contemplate what she had said to her. Saber lowers her eyes and stared at the floor. As Rin's words repeat inside her head, she realized that it isn't wise to remain quiet and hope for the problem to fix itself. She  _needs_  to do something about it.

* * *

When they arrived at the docks, Shirou and Illya made sure to take the silver briefcases which they had brought along with them before stepping out of the boat with Yukari. After leaving the docks, they entered the small city of Ha Long and both Yukari and Illya widen their eyes in awe. Despite being a fairly compact city, Ha Long is filled with life and wonder and its buildings have a very contemporary, modern feel. No doubt the city is built to be a tourist destination in mind as there are several hotels, a beach resort and a gigantic Ferris wheel.

The trio entered a market and they decided to stop for a while to buy some food and supplies before heading to their training location. Yukari and Illya watch Shirou ponders as they stop by every food stall they stumbled on in the market. Besides being a sniper with military precision, Shirou has a strong passion for cooking and always look for the best ingredients to make his meals for his teammates.

After an hour of shopping around the market, Shirou had bought a medium-sized bag of flour, a bottle of fish sauce, several fresh prawns, eggs and various herbs and vegetables. Yukari and Illya each carry a bag of groceries to help him out.

"You're amazing, Archer. You seem to know what ingredients you need to buy for whatever food you had in mind to cook for us." Yukari said to Shirou with admiration.

"Yup!" Illya said merrily as she clings onto Shirou's arm. "When it comes to cooking, big brother Archer is the best!"

Shirou chuckled with a nod. "When you're shopping for groceries, you got to be vigilant to find the right and precise ingredients you need to cook your desired dish. The same can be said for combat. You always have to stay alert with your surroundings, never let your guard down, and most importantly, never hesitant to take the shot at the enemy."

Yukari nervously took a gulp upon hearing the last sentence.

"Caster," Shirou frowned as his voice now sounded firm and solemn. "I know you're nervous but in dire situations, you had to choose between keeping your life or accept death. The only reason why I remain silent back at Bordeaux was because I don't want to alienate Saber's trust in me. And the only reason why I didn't kill Uryu back in Australia is because the circumstances were different for us back then, which is something I'm sure will never happen again, especially what occurred to Ricky back in Siberia."

"I hope he's alright." Illya murmured in worry as she tightens her grip on Shirou's arm. "Things aren't the same without him."

Yukari gave a worried frown as well, knowing that Illya is right. Without Ricky's energetic behavior to lighten up the mood or even his occasional silly argument with Chulainn during meals, the yacht became devoid of any life and charm. Even Rin and Illya aren't in the mood to get into their own fights as they felt dejected by the loss of a friend.

Yukari shakes her head to get out of her thoughts. Although she wants nothing more to help Ricky out, she also knows that this is not the right time to feel any depression.

"So where exactly are we going to do our training?" Yukari inquired with a small smile.

"In the grassy plains located east outside of the city area." Shirou answered as he and Illya turn to her.

"And of course since we're here as mercenaries and not tourists, we are taking our own transportation! Courtesy of Archer's dad and his assistant!" Illya added cheerfully.

"And we're heading to the designated location right now to pick it up." Shirou said.

"Huh, your bosses seem to always know what we need and where to place them. How do they do it?" Yukari asked with an arched eyebrow.

"It's a secret!" Shirou and Illya both said with grins on their faces. But Illya's face distorts into a scowl shortly afterwards.

"No seriously, none of us including Saber knows at all."

* * *

Shirou, Illya and Yukari arrived at an abandoned warehouse where they found a black jeep parked in the garage. Shirou got inside the driver's seat. Yukari was about to enter the passenger seat but Illya placed herself in front of him and glares back at her with a deep frown. Yukari turned away and slowly nods her head, knowing that Illya wants to be the one sitting next to Shirou during their ride to their training location. She backs away and heads over to the backseats instead. A wide smile takes form on Illya's face as she turns around and got into the passenger seat.

After Illya and Yukari close the doors, Shirou drives the jeep out of the building. They navigate through the city for nearly twenty minutes and before anyone knew it, they are out of the city area and they drive into the grassy plains beyond.

During the journey, as Shirou's vision is focused on the road, Illya and Yukari both look out the windows and admire the view of every mountain and grassy hill they pass by. They also spend the time conversing with each other such as Illya pestering Shirou what is he planning to cook for them later for lunch and dinner and Yukari sharing Illya and Shirou a story about an awkward moment that happened during a school camping trip while she was still a teacher back in Tokyo.

After thirty minutes, Shirou stopped the jeep when he found the perfect spot where he can give his training to Yukari.

"We're here." He said. Shirou and Illya grab hold of their briefcases before they and Yukari got out of the jeep.

Yukari smiled as she analyzes their current surroundings. In front of the rocky road where they had parked was a wide open field filled with tall green grass. There are two lone trees in the distance and beyond that are trees dense together in front of a few small mountains. The calm and soothing winds blow gently through her hair and the grass beneath her.

Shirou lays down his metal suitcase on the grass. He opens it up to reveal the bottom half of his case containing a silencer and the disassembled pieces that made up his sniper rifle. The top half contains two pistols, two boxes of ammunition and two large magazines. Shirou grabs one of the pistols and looks up at Yukari.

"Alright Caster, catch." Shirou said. Yukari turns around and sees him throwing the pistol at her. She catches it and her eyes narrowed as she examines the gun in her hand.

"Atten hut!" Illya barked as she stomps her foot. Yukari whirled about and stared back at her incredulously as Illya gave her an ugly scowl. "Archer and I sincerely hope you will take this training very seriously! The tips and instructions you will be taught in this session may both help you in combat and save your life! Understood?!"

"Yes Berserker." Yukari replied nervously as she gave a slight nod.

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Illya bellowed as she stomps her foot again.

"YES BERSERKER MA'AM!" Yukari screamed.

"Uh-huh." Illya slowly nods her head with her eyes narrowed.

"Alright Caster. Let's begin." Shirou said as he stood beside her. Yukari turned and sees Shirou pointing at the two lone trees in the distance. "First, I want you to hold up your pistol and aim it at the trees."

Yukari obliged. She turns to the trees and aims her pistol at them. Shirou grumbled as he gently hits the bottom of Yukari's arms with his silencer, causing her to flinch as she straightens her arms.

"Always keep your arms straight. And make sure your hands aren't sweaty too." Shirou leans his head towards Yukari as he eyes suspiciously at her. "They aren't, right?"

"No Archer sir!" Yukari replied, shaking her head.

"Good." Shirou smiled as he backs away from her. "Now keep the pistol straight, aim at one of the trees and pull the trigger."

Yukari cringed as she heard his last instruction. She wished the moment when she is forced to pull the trigger of a gun would never come at all, but it would seems that she had no other choice and she doesn't have the option to back out either. Yukari takes a deep breath. She tries her best to remain calm, not wanting to let her arms and hands tremble as she aims her pistol at the trees. She wraps a finger around the trigger and…

"Oh right! One more thing!" Shirou said abruptly with his eyes widened. Yukari lets out a relieved sigh as she lowers her gun.

"DID WE SAY YOU CAN LOWER YOUR ARMS?!" Illya barked at her. Yukari yelped as she straightens her arms and aims her pistol at the trees again.

"For better accuracy, aim your pistol with your eagle eye." Shirou smiled as he points his finger at his own eyes.

"Eagle eye?" Yukari asked in confusion.

"Close one of your eyes." Shirou winked at her. "If one eye has the same vision as how you look with both of them, that is your eagle eye."

Yukari closes her left eyelid first, and then proceeds to close the other eyelid. "My eagle eye seems to be my left eye." She said.

"Then aim and fire at the trees with your right eye closed." Shirou instructed.

Yukari flinched. Her hands began to tremble as she gazes at the trees and aims her pistol at one of them. She takes a deep breath before wrapping a finger around the trigger. She tries to pull, but she hesitated. However, Yukari soon felt someone standing closely beside her and wraps his hands around hers.

"Don't worry. We'll do it together." Shirou whispered reassuringly into her ear. Yukari responded with a small nod as she started to feel some relief coming back to her. Illya grumbles under her breath with her arms folded as she watched. "Ready? One…two…three…"

Shirou pulls Yukari's finger, which pulled the trigger and fires a bullet, leaving a mark on the trunk of one of the trees. Yukari blew out another sigh as she and Shirou lower her arms.

"Good job, Caster-san." Shirou commented.

"Yeah, good job alright…" Illya muttered grumpily as she rolls her eyes.

"Arigatou Archer-san." Yukari said to him.

"You're welcome." Shirou smiled warmly at her. "Now let's practice some more shots, shall we?"

* * *

After inhaling the last of her second cigarette, Saber removes it from her lips and breathes out the smoke. Despite being close friends, she couldn't remember the last time she and Ricky are alone together and had a meaningful conversation with each other. She still had memories of them meeting each other for the first time back in London and how she helped him kill his cruel stepfather and recruit him under her wing, but that was two years ago. Since then, aside from conversations during briefings and meals, Saber couldn't remember the last conversation she and Ricky had as friends rather than mercenaries at work.

Saber takes a deep breath, trying to snap out of her thoughts. No. She can't continue ignoring this matter. She knows she is the one who understands him the most. Ricky needs her right now and she is the only one who can get him to talk and understand what is going through his mind right now.

She drops her cigarette onto the floor along with the last one she finished inhaling earlier. She gently squashes the cigarette butt under her shoe and turns around. She places her hand onto the doorknob and turns it quietly.

As she slowly opens the door, she could see Ricky sitting on his bed with downcast eyes. Ricky looks up at the doorway and his eyes widened.

"Saber?" Ricky said barely above a whisper.

Saber frowned at him wordlessly for a moment before she finally had the muscles to speak up. "Can we talk?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really want to thank my friend Crimson-Tuna-Sub for providing suggestions for this story arc. Without him, I never would have completed this chapter. Thank you very much! Stay tune for the next chapter and read and review!


	13. Ha Long, Part 2

"Sure." Ricky replied flatly as he looks down at the metal floor again. Saber walks over and sat next to him on his bed.

"Ricky…" She said softly. "What happened at Russia was-"

"Never your fault?" Ricky snorted. "That's what the others say too. No. You don't understand. Reika…she was a mother who lost her child. She risked her own life to get on board that train to rescue Jack. But she died doing so." Ricky takes a deep breath as his eyes grew cold. "And she died right in front of me. She died…to save me from her mind-controlled daughter. And part of me wish…" He paused for a moment to take a gulp. "I could have done better. I wish I could have saved not just the minister's daughter, but also Reika and Jack. The same way you saved me and my mom from my stepfather and how we saved those boys in Australia. But at the end of the day…"

With his hands curled into fists, Ricky turned his head and looked at Saber with tears forming at the corners of his eyes. "How can you save everyone from a world full of crooks when you are not invincible?" He said while fighting back his tears.

Saber stared wordlessly at Ricky for a moment as she hesitated. But she soon took a deep breath.

"Roderick…" Saber whispered as she leans towards to him. To Ricky's surprise, Saber grabs his hand and tightens her grip. Without any second thoughts, Saber closed her eyes and plants a kiss onto his lips. Ricky's eyes remain wide for a few seconds. But he slowly closes his eyelids and finds himself kissing his leader back, not caring that his tears are rolling freely down his cheeks. As they both fall onto the bed, their tongues danced with each other as their hands roamed over their bodies. Their arms are wrapped around each other and their bodies pressed together tightly. They kissed with great ferocity, moaning into each other's mouths. They both eventually find themselves losing control and they soon cry out in satisfaction as they break away from their kiss. They breathe heavily as they gaze into each other's eyes.

"Sabe-" Ricky gets cut off when Saber quickly places her finger in front of his lips.

"Just for this moment…" Saber smiled at him. "You can refer me as Arturia."

Ricky smiled back as Saber removes her finger and they both find themselves kissing each other again.

* * *

After several more shooting practices, Shirou and Illya decide to give Yukari a break, especially before they even knew it, it is now late afternoon.

Illya gets the second briefcase out from the jeep and gave it to Shirou. Yukari watched as Shirou places the briefcase onto the grass and opens it to reveal a pan, a spatula, a tray, some utensils, two small bowls, a small bottle of cooking oil and the most prominent of all the contents inside, a portable stove.

Illya and Yukari watch in awe as Shirou, kneeling on the grass and with his sleeves rolled up, cooks their lunch with the ingredients he bought at the market earlier. They watch Shirou put some flour into a bowl and soak them with water. After mixing them to create dough with an eggbeater, Shirou grabs some of it and use it to make several small perfectly round-shaped pancakes which he places them on a separate tray. He neatly placed the shrimps and herbs onto the pancakes. When he is done, he carefully places them onto the pan which is on top of the stove to let them fry. At the meantime, Shirou beats and mixes the eggs in another bowl with his eggbeater. A few minutes later, Shirou carefully pour a drop of fish sauce and some of the egg yolk he had created onto each pancake. After another ten minutes of frying, the food is ready. Shirou turns off the stove and place the pancakes onto the tray.

Illya and Yukari gasped in amazement as they are instantly intrigued at the sight of the food that Shirou had prepared for them.

"Ta-dah! Banh khot! Crispy Vietnamese mini-pancakes. Hope you two enjoy!" Shirou smiled.

Illya, Yukari, Shirou each grabbed a piece from the tray and exclaimed, "Itadakimasu!"

They all take a bite of the mini-pancakes. Yukari and Illya widen their eyes upon feeling the amazing sensation going through inside their mouths.

"Amazing!" Illya squealed.

"This is delicious." Yukari said incredulously.

"I'm glad you like them." Shirou gave both of them a grin before taking another bite of his food. After everyone finished eating their share of the food, Shirou continued, "You're doing quite well so far, Yukari. See that your skills go up."

Yukari frowned as she is very conflicted over her opinion on Shirou right now. He has always acted friendly, cheerful and optimistic towards her and the other members. But during missions, he wouldn't hesitate to shoot down a defenseless enemy. It seems on one moment, he is as kind as an angel but then the next moment, he's a ruthless soldier.

"Are you okay, Miss Yukino?" Illya asked in concern.

Yukari looks back up at Shirou and asked, "Emiya-san, do you ever believe that not every situation needs to be resolved by such drastic actions?

Shirou blows out a sigh as he places his hands on his knees. "Sometimes I wish. But if you don't want to lose anyone important to you, you can't hesitate to take the shot."

"Even if the enemy is defenseless and unarmed?" Yukari asked.

"You may spare the enemy's life, but the moment you turn your back on them, they'll strike you from behind. That's why you can't always show mercy to your enemies." Shirou said sternly.

"Did Medea strike us from behind when she was unarmed?" Yukari asked empathically.

"That's…" Shirou tried to answer, but he couldn't think of a response. Shirou's eyes softened as his tone sounded grim. "You think I don't want every solution to a problem to play out the same way we handled Medea? But for me, when I showed mercy to my enemy about a year ago, I lost someone important to me. Someone who can never be replaced in my life."

* * *

_**1 Year Ago…** _

_**Ljubljana, Slovenia** _

Kiritsugu, Shirou, Issei and Ayako put on their special gloves when they arrive at the back of the hotel.

"Everybody ready?" Kiritsugu asked.

"Yes sir." Shirou, Issei and Ayako responded.

"Good. Activate your gloves."

Everyone press the button on their right gloves. Shirou looks down at his gloves and he sees and feels the magnetic grips on his palms moving and positioning themselves.

"Oooh, I like that." Ayako grinned. Everybody take a few steps back from the wall before they all do a running jump. As soon as they are in the air, they quickly slam their magnetic gloves onto the wall and they find themselves pressing against the wall of the back of the hotel.

"Move!" Kiritsugu ordered as they begin climbing up the wall.

"So Shirou, once this mission is over, can we all go to the nearest bar and have a drink?" Issei asked with a smirk as they climb.

"You ask, you buy." Shirou said while his eyes are focused at the top of the building. Issei and Ayako chuckled in response.

"What about me, son? Can your friend invite me as well?" Kiritsugu asked with a small smirk.

"I didn't know you are the kind of guy, dad." Shirou replied.

"Hey, an old man like me can still have fun, you know?" Kiritsugu said.

"We can even bring Maiya too, boss." Issei suggested.

" _I'll pass. I don't drink."_  Maiya responded through their earpieces.

"Aww, don't be a party-pooper." Ayako laughed.

When the group arrived at the top of the building, they rush over to the designated area where the snipers are directly below them.

"Shirou, ready with the mine." Kiritsugu ordered. As the others gather and kneel in a circle, Shirou puts away his sniper rifle, takes out a mine and places it in the middle. He gave it a twist and quickly backs away and draws out his pistol. A few seconds later, the mine explodes and creates a circular opening through the concrete floor.

The terrorists look up and are shocked to see Kiritsugu and his team entering the building through the large hole above them. Before the terrorists could even react, Shirou, Issei and Ayako fire their pistol and rifles at everyone present inside the room. As soon as Kiritsugu and his team land on the floor, every terrorist in the room had dropped dead. After the team look around the room to make sure all of their enemies are down, Kiritsugu gestured them to leave the area.

"Let's get to the hostage room." Kiritsugu said. Shirou puts away his pistol and draws out his sniper rifle as everyone leave the room.

When they arrived at the open area, they quickly head over to the room where the prime minister and the other hostages were held. They stood in front of the wooden doors and Kiritsugu nods his head to his teammates.

Shirou backs away while Issei and Ayako move the wall next to the doors. They each draw out two small round-shaped metal gadgets and place them on the wall.

When they finish setting up, they press the buttons on the gadgets and they form a huge rectangular-shaped screen on the wall, showing the heat signatures of every person inside the room.

"How many enemies were in the room again, Mitsuzuri?" Kiritsugu inquired.

"Six of them, including Avicebron." Ayako answered.

"Shirou, drop them." Kiritsugu said to his son.

Shirou draws out his sniper rifle and analyzes the people behind the walls. He carefully finds the ones who have rifles in their arms. When he spots one of them, he aims his rifle at his head and shot him down. This startled the other terrorists in the room as they turn to see one of their fallen comrades.

"Issei, Ayako! Shoot down the ones who turn their heads." Kiritsugu ordered.

Issei and Ayako quickly hold up their rifles and shot down three more terrorists. After the terrorists drop the floor, Issei and Ayako deactivate the gadgets and Kiritsugu kicks the doors open.

"Rescue force, nobody move!" Kiritsugu yelled. The hostages lower their hands while Kiritsugu and his team enter the room and analyze their surroundings. When one terrorist slowly tried to get up from the floor, Issei walks over to him and fires a bullet through his head. Shirou puts away his sniper rifle as he goes over to a civilian and helps him get up from the floor.

"Are you alright, sir?" Shirou asked.

"Yes I am." The man replied as he tried to catch his breath. "Thank you so much, soldier."

"Where are Avicebron and the Prime Minister?" Kiritsugu asked his teammates as they lower their weapons.

"And didn't you say there were six, Ayako? There are only four of them here." Issei added.

"They're nowhere to be found." Ayako replied.

"Avicebron and one of his men bailed out with the Prime Minister." Issei muttered.

"They left the room just a while ago through the staircase!" A woman said to them as the other civilians stood up and try to regain their composure. "You should still be able to catch up with them!" She points her finger at the open doorway which leads to a staircase.

" _Sir! The Slovenian police spotted Avicebron and one man getting into a white box truck with the Prime Minister. Get to the bottom of the building right now. I'm on my way."_  Maiya said to Kiritsugu through his earpiece.

"We're on our way!" Kiritsugu replied. He removes his finger from his earpiece and said to the civilians, "Everyone, stay here. The Slovenian Police will be on their way here to pick you all up." The civilians sigh in relief. "Everyone! Let's go!"

With no time to lose, Kiritsugu, Shirou, Issei and Ayako rush down the staircase and make their way out of the building.

" _Connecting to the Slovenian Police communications. They are keeping track on Avicebron's current location."_  Maiya said to them eagerly as the team ran down one flight of stairs after another.

"Understood." Kiritsugu replied.

As the four got out of the building, their truck drives over to the pavement and stopped right in front of them. The window lowered to reveal Maiya sitting at the driver's seat with her hands on the steering wheel.

"Hop in!" She shouted. Kiritsugu quickly got into the passenger seat while Shirou, Issei, and Ayako got on board the back of the truck. Ayako barely close the doors in time before Maiya hits the gas pedal and drives over to Avicebron's current location.

As Maiya focused her vision on the road, Kiritsugu looked at the satnav and see the coordinates of Avicebron's truck and several police vehicles. He sees the direction of the truck and police vehicles are moving towards, then he widens the map to see the exact location where they are heading.

"Looks like they are all heading towards the Town Square." Kiritsugu said.

"Luckily, I know the shortcuts from here." Maiya said.

Kiritsugu and his team hang onto their seats as Maiya made several swift turns through the city. She drove past several honking cars and trucks in incredible speed and she later made a hard right turn to drive through a narrow alleyway. When they exit through the other end of it, they find themselves at one end of the boundaries of Town Square. Kiritsugu looks at the satnav and noticed that Avicebron's truck has stopped in front of the exact location of Robba Fountain.

"Avicebron's truck has stopped at the Fountain." Kiritsugu said as Maiya brought the truck to a halt.

" _We better move."_  Shirou said to his father through their earpieces.

Shirou, Issei and Ayako quickly got out of the back of the truck with their rifles in their arms. Maiya stayed behind in the truck while Kiritsugu got out of the passenger seat to join up with his teammates.

"Let's go!" Kiritsugu shouted and they all charge into the Town Square. They ignored the screams and the horrified looks on the passers-by as they noticed four armed people running through the Town Square.

When they arrived at Robba Fountain however, they see that several police officers have surrounded the box truck, but Avicebron, his accomplice and the Prime Minister are nowhere in sight. Many civilians stood nearby and watch the scene in confusion and bewilderment.

"What happened?!" Kiritsugu asked a nearby officer.

"They're not in the truck. It's empty." The officer replied.

"They must have split up!" Issei said to his leader. The team turned around and sees that from the fountain, the concrete pavement had split into a three-way intersection.

"Ayako, you take the left." Kiritsugu said to Ayako, who responded with a nod. He turns to Shirou and Issei. "Shirou, Issei, go right. I'll go through the center."

"Yes sir!" Shirou and Issei both said before the team split up and went their separate ways.

* * *

Ayako dashes through the streets and gently pushing aside any civilian that was in her way. She soon spotted the man she recognized back at the hotel, running in the distance with his rifle attached onto the back of his vest. But her way is blocked by a huge crowd of people.

Ayako swiftly turns her head to her left to see a nearby café with empty round tables lined up in a vertical row outside. She runs over and climbs up onto the table. The patrons cry and watch incredulously as Ayako run on top of the tables to pass through the large crowd of people on her right.

When she reached the last table, she gets off and continues her chase after the man. The man tries to push his way through the crowd of people, which causes him to slow down. When Ayako is near the man, she quickly climbs over a nearby bench on her right and as she jumps into the air, she delivers a vertical kick down onto the back of the man's head. The civilians yelp as they back away from the man who collapses onto the ground.

Ayako quickly got on top of him and restrains his arms. She places a finger onto her earpiece. "Guys, I took his remaining accomplice down."

* * *

"Good work. I'm engaged with Avicebron. He and the Prime Minister are heading towards the Preseren Monument." Kiritsugu quickly replied to Ayako before removing his finger from his earpiece.

Kiritsugu chased Avicebron and the Prime Minister all the way to Preseren Square where the said monument is placed in the center of it. Many nearby civilians stood and watch incredulously, wondering why is their Prime Minister being held hostage by a masked man.

"Don't move!" Kiritsugu shouted at Avicebron as he stopped and aimed his rifle at him, causing the civilians to scream in horror.

Avicebron stopped right in front of the Preseren Monument while still clinging onto the back of the collar of the Prime Minister's suit. He laughed as he turned around with his hostage. Avicebron swiftly draws out his pistol and the Prime Minister yelps as the terrorist placed it next to his head. The onlookers gasped in horror while Kiritsugu responded to Avicebron with a low growl.

"Drop your gun, or I'll shoot." Avicebron demanded. Kiritsugu remained silent with his rifle still aimed at Avicebron. The masked terrorist laughed again as he shakes his head. "Tell me sir. Is this man's life even worth it? Even if you save him, he'll grow old and die."

"Drop your weapon, and let…him…go." Kiritsugu growled.

Avicebron chuckled. "Do you even know who he is? This is the same fascist Prime Minister who is guilty of corruption, money laundering and several other scandals. And yet he still wins the last election and earns a second term, showing just how weak-minded and ignorant humanity really is. Face it, this world is filled with war, crime and corruption. And humanity is the root of all these problems."

Unbeknownst to Kiritsugu, Avicebron and his hostage, Shirou and Issei arrived at the square from the right. Upon seeing their target, the two stop at their tracks. They turn and run over to a nearby alleyway. As they hide behind the wall, Shirou kneels down and readies his sniper rifle while Issei stood beside him.

"Do you know why I wear this mask? It's because the sight of humanity irks me." Avicebron continued, his voice sounding vexed. "Making eye contact with people like you and the Prime Minister makes me sick. Every human whose actions are fueled with anger and without logic should be erased from existence, in order to create a path… _for Paradise_!" His voice rose upon saying his last words.

"God, this man is insane. Take the shot. Kill him." Issei whispered to Shirou.

Shirou closes his other eyelid and aims his rifle at Avicebron's chest. But as he takes a deep breath, he lowers his sight and aims at Avicebron's thigh. He fires a bullet and it shot right through the terrorist's thigh. Avicebron yells in agonizing pain as he releases the Prime Minister and fell on a knee. The Prime Minister quickly takes the opportunity to make his escape.

"I told you to kill him." Issei chided Shirou.

"But he still needs to be judged like every other criminal." Shirou replied as he lowered his rifle and turned to his teammate.

"But he's their leader and that makes him too dangerous to live!" Issei protested.

"And will killing make us different from them?!" Shirou snapped back.

Issei cursed under his breath. Shirou stood up and puts away his sniper rifle as he berated him, "Issei, you have to learn to control yourself."

Issei lets out a frustrated sigh in response. The two walk out of the alleyway to see Kiritsugu staring at them in the distance. He simply gave them a thumbs-up. He turns away from them and talks to his earpiece as he stood in front of Avicebron, who is still kneeling on the ground, wrapping his hand around his thigh in pain.

"Maiya, the target is secured." Kiritsugu said.

" _Understood. The police are on their way to your current location."_  Maiya replied.

As Kiritsugu removes his finger from his earpiece, he looks down at Avicebron. "If you're going to shoot, don't talk." He said. Avicebron chuckled, causing Kiritsugu to arch a brow. "What's so funny?" He asked as he aims his rifle at him.

Avicebron throws his head back and cackled uncontrollably. His laughs rang throughout the square.

"You…all of you…" As Avicebron leans over, he tears out his suit, revealing a C4 explosive strapped onto his chest. Kiritsugu, Shirou and Issei widen their eyes in alarm while the onlookers scream. "None of you are ever going to put me behind bars!" Avicebron bellowed as he looks up. Kiritsugu gasped as Avicebron got up to his feet and runs straight towards him.

"FATHER!" Shirou shouted in horror.

"NOOOOO!" Issei yelled. He made a mad dash over to Kiritsugu and Avicebron. Shirou drops his jaw as he idly watched.

"ISSEI!" Shirou shouted again as he reaches his arm out to him. Issei pushed Avicebron out of the way and tackles him to the ground. As soon as their bodies hit the floor, the bombs strapped onto Avicebron exploded.

_**BOOOOOOOOMMMM!** _

The civilians scream and leave the scene in panic as the square is now consumed by a huge cloud of black smoke. Kiritsugu coughed heavily as he walks out of the smoke.

" _Sir?! What was that?! What just happened?!"_  Maiya shouted in alarm, overhearing the explosion.

Kiritsugu gave a few more coughs before responding to his assistant. "It's Avicebron…he killed himself with a bomb…and Issei was with him…"

" _No…"_  Maiya uttered in horror.

Shirou fell to his knees as he felt his spirit shattered. Stunned beyond belief, he remains speechless as he couldn't believe what had happened.

"I-Issei…" Shirou trembled uncontrollably. The color rapidly drains from his face as the unthinkable reality began to set in. His friend and teammate, Issei Ryuudou, is dead.

"Issei…" He murmured incredulously, but soon lets out a heartbroken shriek when he reached the verge of breakdown. "ISSEI!"

* * *

There was tense silence within the Ryuudou residence in Fukuoka. It has been 2 weeks since Issei's death in Ljubljana, but his surviving relatives are still stricken with grief and sorrow over their loss. As Issei's parents and brother sat idly and emotionlessly at the dining table, Kiritsugu, Maiya, Ayako and Shirou kneel on the floor and quietly bow down to an open cupboard with a black and white portrait of Issei placed inside it. After getting up, Kiritsugu placed the joss sticks into the incense holder in front of the picture. They stood up from the floor and walk over to Issei's relatives.

"We're sorry for your loss. Issei was a great fighter that we had the privilege and honor to fight alongside with. The world was a better place with him in it." Kiritsugu murmured to them. Issei's mother began sobbing in inconsolable grief.

"Oh Issei, why do you have to leave us?" His mother cried as her tears cascade down her cheeks. Her husband grimly wraps his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her.

"Issei…" His brother Reikan choked out as he is unable to resist the urge to cry any longer. He goes over to his mother and wraps his arms around her as well. Kiritsugu and his team silently watch Issei's family clung tightly to each other, crying and wailing over the loss of a beloved member of the Ryuudou family.

Shirou, bearing full responsibility for his death, bites down his lower lip as he lowers his head in shame.

* * *

Kiritsugu, Maiya, Ayako and Shirou stepped out of the elevator and leave the apartment building. Despite wishing they could stay longer in the Ryuudou residence to comfort Issei's relatives, they unfortunately need to get back to work as soon as possible.

"It's my fault." Shirou uttered. Kiritsugu, Maiya and Ayako turned to see Shirou standing there with his head lowered and his eyes hidden in the dark. "It's my fault that my friend is dead."

"Shirou…" Ayako frowned. "You know that's not-"

"You don't understand, Mitsuzuri!" Shirou snapped at her as he looks up with his eyes shaking. "Issei told me to kill Avicebron, but I chose to injure our target instead. If I had actually killed him, he would have never gone after Avicebron and Kiritsugu, and Issei would not have to sacrifice his own life to save my father!"

"But we never knew that Avicebron had explosives strapped onto his body!" Ayako yelled, trying to reason with Shirou.

"But there wouldn't be any further problems regardless if I had actually done so!" Shirou argued.

"That's enough, Shirou!" Kiritsugu scolded his son. Shirou instantly fell silent. "Being a mercenary is all about fighting till your last breath. Issei already knew the risks before he accepted becoming one. You should know that too, son."

"What about you, dad?!" Shirou yelled. "How would you feel if I was the one who sacrificed my life to save yours?!"

Kiritsugu glared at Shirou for a few moments before turning his head away. "I would have kept moving forward."

"What?!" Shirou's eyes widened in shock.

"I would keep moving forward to make sure we succeed in our mission!" Kiritsugu shouted. "If we lose our morale after the death of a teammate or both of us die, your sacrifice would be in vain!"

There was a moment of dead silence as Shirou stood there with his eyes remained wide.

Kiritsugu sighs as he straightens his coat. "That's the harsh reality of being a hero. If there is a no sacrifice, there is a no victory. And no sacrifice should be in vain."

Kiritsugu turned and walked off. Maiya and Ayako took a glance at Shirou before they follow after their superior. Shirou lowers his head and stares at the floor. He shook his fists violently and stomps his foot in frustration.

"DAMMIT!" Shirou screamed. He can't deny that what his father said is true. But even still, if he had actually killed Avicebron back in Slovenia, Issei would never have to give away his own life to save his father. How can a mission be considered a victory if lives were lost in the process? Shirou tightens his fists until they turn white. He looked up at the sky and narrows his eyes.

"I'll be stronger and better next time." Shirou promised. "I'll make sure no one will ever die again."

* * *

"How can you live your life knowing that you are responsible for the death of someone close to you, all because you hesitated yourself from eliminating your target?" Shirou said grimly. "My father was right about one thing. There is no victory without sacrifice, and no sacrifice should be in vain. But I'll make sure no one dies in my watch, so that we can all live to celebrate our victory."

Illya and Yukari stared back at Shirou wordlessly as he finished, sympathizing the emotional pain he had went through after his ill-fated mission at Ljubljana.

"Shirou-san, I'm sorry about what happened to your friend." Yukari said.

Shirou simply nods his head in silence. Everyone quietly ate their lunch. None of them look at each other or spoke until they have finished eating their food.


	14. Ha Long, Part 3

After a few more hours of training, the group decided to call it a day. After packing their weapons and equipment back into their briefcases, Shirou, Illya and Yukari hop back into their jeep and drive back to the city of Ha Long.

By the time they reached the city, night has fallen. They parked their jeep at the warehouse where they originally found it and make the journey back to their speedboat at the docks. They walk through the busy market again which is now illuminated by the lights from the stalls.

Illya and Yukari were conversing with each other and enjoying their free time as they look at the various clothes and gifts that were selling at the stalls they happen to pass by. But Shirou was awfully silent since returning back from their training. He remained quiet as he bought more groceries and ingredients from the food stalls. No doubt Yukari is concerned over Shirou's current state and fully aware that perhaps their earlier conversation during lunch had troubled him, maybe even made him lost some respect for her. But she didn't regret what she did and hearing his past only made her want to help him even more. Hopefully things will get better when they return back to the yacht.

After buying the gifts from the stall, Yukari and Illya turn to the grocery stall beside it where Shirou is paying the shopkeeper after buying some leeks.

"Are you done?" Illya asked Shirou.

Shirou turned to the women and gave a wan smile. "Yeah, I'm good to go." He replied with a lack of emotion.

They continue walking through the market but suddenly stop at their tracks when they heard a scream. The three gasped while the civilians in the market turn their heads in shock and confusion.

"What was that?!" Yukari cried in alarm.

"It came from over there!" Shirou yelled, pointing at the direction of the scream. The three quickly dash off.

* * *

In the middle of a small roundabout outside of the market, a man with messy black hair and dressed in a simple and dirty light blue collar shirt, brown pants and black shoes had his arm wrapped around the neck of a woman as they stood in front of a fountain. Several police officers stood in front of them with their pistols aimed at him. The man had his own pistol which he pressed it against the woman's stomach. Several civilians idly stood nearby and watch the scene in horror and bewilderment.

"Don't you dare shoot motherfuckers, or I'll kill this bitch!" The man bellowed at the officers. The officers remain silent as they aim their pistols at the man while his hostage trembled and breathed heavily in fear. After a few moments of tense silence, the man's crooked, misshapen teeth broke out into an ugly grin.

The man cackled insanely and shouted at the police officers, "You guys really are a bunch of fucking cowards, just like my piece of shit ex-girlfriend!" His face now distorts into a ferocious snarl. "I apologize to her for what I've done, but instead of forgiving me, she just told me to fuck off! I did everything to get her back, but she was too fucking stubborn to understand my feelings for her! And now, she's with another man. I hate her. I fucking hate her! She hurt my fucking feelings! So now, I need another woman in my life. And none of you assholes are going to ruin my life the same way she did to me! So fuck off, you motherfuckers!" The man looked at the woman and smirked. "Or I'll shoot this bitch."

Unbeknownst to the assailant and the police officers, Shirou, Illya and Yukari arrived at the scene on the other side of the roundabout. Shirou turns to the alleyway beside them and gestured Illya and Yukari to follow him. As they hide in the alleyway, Shirou quickly place down his grocery bags and briefcase. He opens up his briefcase to reveal his disassembled sniper rifle.

"Archer, what are you doing?" Yukari asked. Shirou ignored her as he quickly assembles his sniper rifle within less than a minute. He quickly stood up and aims his sniper rifle at the head of the assailant who is still taunting the police and holding the innocent woman as his hostage. "ARCHER!"

"Quiet!" Shirou snapped, trying to keep his focus on the deranged man.

"Archer, do NOT resort to killing that man!" Yukari rebuked.

"Caster, we are not debating this again!" Shirou yelled back.

"Archer, please listen to me!" Yukari cried. Shirou narrows his eyes as he lowers his rifle slightly, letting Yukari continue, "I know you're still troubled over your friend's death, and I don't blame you. But this isn't like how you dealt with that terrorist back then."

"But what if the assailant had something up his sleeve even when I injure him?" Shirou said.

"You should learn from your mistakes. But you can't always let your guilt and past stop you from doing what's right." Yukari lectured.

Shirou grits his teeth and gave a low growl. As he raised his sniper rifle again, he aims at the assailant, but this time at his thigh.

"I hope you are right, Caster." Shirou murmured under his breath. He pulled the trigger and fires a bullet through the assailant's thigh.

The man yelled as he released the woman. As the woman ran off and quickly escorted away from the scene by some police officers, the man fell to the ground, curling himself up and screaming in extreme pain and agony. His eyes are as wide as saucers as he looks down at the round-shaped wound on his left thigh with blood slowly oozing out of it.

"AAAAHHH! MY LEG! A HOLE! THERE'S A HOLE!"

While the man is down, the other police officers quickly take the opportunity to surround him. One of them kneels down to check the pockets on the man's clothes.

"He's not carrying anything else." The officer said firmly to his superior.

"Take him in!" His superior commanded.

As the assailant howled in agony while he is being handcuffed, Shirou's eyes widened in disbelief, trying to comprehend what had happened. As they stood behind him, Yukari and Illya were smiling in relief.

"YOU DID IT, ARCHER-CHAN!" Illya yelled enthusiastically as she wraps her arms around Shirou and embraces him tightly.

"I…I did it." Shirou murmured as he lowers his rifle.

Yukari nods her head and places her hand on his shoulder. "You've done well, Archer-san." She said.

"You're a hero…" Illya uttered blissfully. A huge grin plasters across her face as she snuggled him.

Shirou stared blankly for a few moments, unsure of what to do. But soon after, a large smile finally began to take form on his face. With a sigh, he responded to them, "Yeah…I did well."

* * *

After getting back into their motorboat and contacting Rin that they are returning, Shirou, Illya and Yukari drive their way back to the yacht.

Illya and Yukari watched the city of Ha Long slowly fading into the darkness as they drove further away from it.

"Yukino-san," Shirou spoke, causing Yukari to turn to him at the driver's seat. "I guess I owe you an apology. If you weren't with me, I would have actually killed that man."

Yukari smiled at him. "We may have different views, but we're still teammates." Shirou responded by turning his head and giving her a smirk.

* * *

"Welcome home guys!" Chulainn and Rin both cordially greeted when Shirou, Illya and Yukari entered the interior of the yacht.

"Hello!" The three happily responded. Shirou immediately heads to the kitchen to cook while Illya, Yukari, Chulainn and Rin go over to the table and take their seats. As they wait for Shirou to prepare their dinner, Illya excitedly shares with Chulainn and Rin what had happened today, partially regarding Yukari's training but mostly on Shirou's heroic action in the city. She did get sidetracked later on however when she began rambling about how Shirou took care of the crook by punching him in the face and throwing him into the fountain while the police officers and bystanders cheered him on. Even though Yukari, Rin and Chulainn know that she is now fabricating and showing off her blind affection for Shirou, they just sat idly and listen to her stories, waiting for her to finish letting out all of the excitement and hyperactivity in her body.

An hour had passed and by the time Illya finished her ramblings, Shirou had finished cooking their dinner. Shirou placed the tray of food on the table which includes a plate of banh khot and seven bowls of beef noodles. After Shirou placed the bowls in front of his teammates, Ricky and Saber got out of her office and walk over to the dining table with their hands locked together.

"Good evening everyone." Ricky greeted.

"Saber! Ricky!" Illya replied cheerfully.

"What are we having for dinner tonight, Shirou?" Saber asked.

"Vietnamese beef noodles and banh khot. I hope you'll love them." Shirou said.

"I can't wait to try it out." Saber replied with a small smile.

"We haven't seen you two for an awfully long time. Care to explain what you two were doing?" Chulainn asked with a playful smirk.

"Mind your own business." Ricky gave a sly grin to Chulainn while holding up a middle finger.

"That's the Assassin I know." Rin smiled approvingly. "It's good to have you back."

"Yeah, it ain't easy coping with what I've experienced, but I'm glad you guys are here for me. Especially Saber." Ricky said. He, Saber and Shirou grab their seats and sit down.

"Boss, I have something to say before we eat." Shirou said to Saber.

"What is it, Shirou?" She inquired.

"I think even if Yukari wouldn't become a good shooter, I'm totally fine with her not using a gun at all." Shirou said, glancing at Yukari with a smirk on his face. Yukari smiled back at him. Shirou turns back to Saber and continued, "I believe this team is complete with Yukari not carrying a gun, and it also makes her what a truly special member she is to this team."

Saber quietly nods her head for a moment before she spoke, "I think so too." Yukari's smile widens as she stares at her leader. "Now let's eat." Saber ordered her teammates.

Shirou and Yukari place their hands together and cheered, "Itadakimasu!"

"And while we eat, I can tell you two what happened during Yukari's training and what Shirou did in the city today!" Illya said to Ricky and Saber ecstatically as she holds up her cutlery.

"Do tell." Ricky said.

Rin groaned as she rolls her eyes back and let her arms droop limply at her sides. "Not again…" She said miserably. The others laughed.

As they ate their dinner, Illya began sharing her stories to everyone present at the table again. Shirou watched everyone conversing and eating with his lips curved into a blissful smile. As he took careful review of the current situation, he is suddenly filled with a memory of his past.

* * *

_**1 Year Ago…** _

_**Unknown Location** _

Shirou and Ayako sat together on a bench beside the door of Kiritsugu's office. It's been 24 hours since they returned to the headquarters from Fukuoka, and after much consideration, Kiritsugu had decided to transfer his son to another team. He hoped that with his son under the leadership and guidance of one of his best men, Shirou can recover from his guilt over the loss of his friend and regain his morale as a mercenary. But Shirou was half-hearted over this decision as he sees this as a sign that his father has lost some faith in him as his son and a mercenary, and this also means he would no longer be working alongside his remaining friend Ayako.

"I guess we aren't in the same team anymore. I'm sorry." Shirou said to Ayako apologetically as he stared at the wall in front of him.

"You did yell at your father after all. And it's alright, there's no need to apologize." Ayako said. "Your father is just doing what's best for you. You are a great sniper in the field and he doesn't want to let a good man like you go to waste." She gave Shirou a warm smile as she gently pats him on the back. "I hope you will feel better, and when that happens, I wish you all the best. Sayonara Emiya-kun."

Shirou turned to Ayako and replied to her in a dull voice, "Sayonara Mitsu-senpai." Ayako gets up from the bench and walked off. As she leaves, the door beside Shirou opens.

Shirou turned to his left and see a woman with blonde hair, tied to a ponytail and dressed in a black suit, gloves, pants and shoes walking out of his father's office. After she closed the door behind her, she turned to him.

"Shirou Emiya?" She asked. Shirou gets up from the bench and stood straight in front of her.

"Are you Arturia Pendragon?" Shirou asked.

The woman nodded and folds her arms. "Please refer me as Saber."

"Yes…" Shirou nodded. "Saber…"

"Your father told me what kind of mercenary you are. I would definitely love to have someone like you in my team." Saber extends her hand to Shirou. "Welcome to the team…Archer."

Shirou stared wordlessly at Saber's hand for a few moments before he grabs it and shook with Saber. Shirou closed his eyelids and gave a solemn bow to his new leader. "Saber…I promise you that with every ounce of willpower I have, I will protect you and everyone in the battlefield."

Saber responded with a warm smile on her face. "I'm glad to hear that."

* * *

Shirou elicited a blissful sigh. Looking back at it now, it was a good moment for him. The moment he was accepted into Saber's team, he became part of a group that felt more than a team of elite soldiers who are only waiting to be hired and earn money. To most people, they think they are a group of people who only think for themselves. But personally to him, those people are wrong.

As Shirou looked down at his food and began to eat, a thought flittered through his mind.

' _This is more than just a team. It's a family.'_

* * *

Zouken Matou lets out an irritated sigh as he places down his empty cup on the table in front of him. Ever since his plans in creating the Grail missiles and Od serum were exposed to the world, he and his remaining employees who escaped from the authorities were forced into hiding underground. His representatives tried to defend him but the evidence was so strong against him that his former headquarters was forcibly shut down by the Japanese government. While him and his remaining employees are fortunate to have places where they can seek refuge after fleeing Japan, this incident had no doubt since been a thorn on Zouken's side.

Everything he had worked so hard for decades to accomplish including money, power and resources are instantly gone in a blink of an eye and he holds a grudge on the people responsible for exposing his plans in creating his ultimate weapons. Even in his old and thinly body, he will do anything to get revenge on the people who had brought his company and reputation to ruins.

He looked up at the pair of doors in front of him when he heard a few knocks. "Come in." He grumbled.

The doors opened and Kirei Kotomine, dressed in his usual dark blue trench coat, steps into the room with his hands placed behind his back.

"Matou-sama, I'm happy to report that our factory in Iceland had finished the third round of manufacturing the Od serum." Kirei reported.

"Good." Zouken said curtly with a nod. "But now, after what happened to our train in Russia, we have to be very careful with how we transport the serum to our location."

"Especially when it might attract the attention of those meddlers who constantly thwarted our plans again." Kirei added. "Thankfully, if it wasn't for the few drips of the serum your granddaughter recovered from the train wreck, we wouldn't have made any sort of progress at all."

"That is why I want the both of you to head down to Iceland. Recover our newly made serum and get them over here…by any means necessary." Zouken said darkly.

Kirei places his hand on his chest and bows down to his boss. "Yes, Matou-sama."

As Kirei got up, he turns to his right and sees a young red-eyed woman stepping out of the shadows. She has a red ribbon tied at the left side of her long white hair and dressed in a black long-sleeved dress with red stripes.

"Come. We have a mission to do." Kirei said to the woman as she walked over to the back of the couch Zouken is sitting on.

Zouken turns his head to the side and said to the woman, "Do not fail me, Sakura."

Sakura Matou responded to her grandfather as she gazes at Kirei and folds her arms, "I won't."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoy this story arc. It may not be thrilling and exciting as the previous arcs, but I hope you all enjoy what this arc had to offer. Stay tune for the next chapter and read and review!


	15. Tierra del Fuego Province, Part 1

_**2 Years Ago…** _

_**Los Angeles, California, United States** _

Somewhere far from the city limits of Los Angeles, a group of people stood at the side of a wide lone road. Beside them and parked at the left side of the road is a Lamborghini Huracan which its glossy exterior shines through the moonlight. The people are unable to see the appearance of its owner as the windows are tinted.

A man and his girlfriend, who both arrived at the racing venue, walk over to the side of the road to get a closer look at the Lamborghini.

"So this is the infamous Ishtar whom everybody has been talking about lately?" The man said as he folds his arms.

"She owns a Lamborghini. So yeah, that must be her." His girlfriend replied as she stuffs her hands into her pockets. "Do you think she can beat Gaede?"

"Don't know." The man replied as he shrugs his shoulders. "Both racers have remained unbeaten, but Gaede had raced longer than her."

Suddenly, a honk of a car horn is heard. Everyone's attention is turned to a green 1987 Buick Grand National that is slowly driving towards the starting line with its high beam headlights shining through the darkness.

"Speak of the devil." The man uttered as he and girlfriend laid their eyes on the green car.

The Grand National came to a halt beside the Lamborghini. The tinted window lowered to reveal a man with shoulder-length dark brown hair and a large beard sitting in its driver seat. He is dressed in a black biker shirt with silver spikes, a brown belt with a round gold buckle around his waist and blue jeans.

"So, you must be Ishtar. The mysterious lady driver who had been making highlights lately?" Gaede said. When he didn't get a response from his challenger, a smug grin takes form on his face. "Cold shoulder eh?" He took a few moments to take a good look at the exterior of the Lamborghini, and he gave a whistle. "That's some fine paint you got there." He holds up his left fist to show off his large diamond skull ring. He extends out his arm and uses his ring to scratch through the door of the Lamborghini, leaving behind a distinguishable white crooked vertical line. "Too fine."

"Oooohhh." The spectators grunted in response.

Gaede gave a cruel laugh as he places his left hand back on the steering wheel and his car window closed. Seconds later, a woman dressed in a red tank top, black tight pants and black high heel shoes walks up to the middle of the road and stood in front of the competing cars. She nonchalantly holds up her handkerchief for a few seconds. As soon as she swings her arm down, the two cars sped off while the spectators began hooting and cheering rambunctiously.

The Grand National got a head start. As soon as Gaede gain some distance away from the Lamborghini, he immediately places himself in front of his challenger. Gaede chuckled, feeling delighted that he is already beating his challenger at the start of the race.

However, to his shock, the Lamborghini accelerates itself and collides itself against the back of Gaede's Grand National. Gaede cried in horror as he felt the impact of the collision.

"Hey, what the fuck man?!" Gaede shouted as he turns his head around for a moment. He quickly turns back to his front and sees that they are approaching a corner. Gaede quickly turned his car to the right, but as he does, so was the Lamborghini. The front left of the Lamborghini collided against the side of Gaede's car, sending it falling off a short cliff as they turned. Gaede's Grand National was sent rolling down the cliff. After rolling over several times, the Grand National laid at the bottom of the cliff upturned with its exterior completely wrecked.

Gaede groaned as he left dangling upside down at the driver's seat, with his seat belt being the only thing that is keeping him secured.

Gaede groggily looks through the broken front window of his car with his squinted eyes to see the Lamborghini parked above him and beside the edge of the cliff. The window lowers to reveal an Asian girl with long wavy black hair, tied to two long side ponytails.

As Rin looks down at her defeated opponent, she lowered her sunglasses to reveal her blue eyes. She gave a smirk as she said to Gaede, "You scratched my paint…I scratched yours."

Rin lifts up her sunglasses and closes her window. She turns her Lamborghini away from the edge of the cliff and drives off to finish the race.

* * *

_**Keflavik, Iceland** _

It was 8 in the morning in Iceland. The Keflavik Naval Air Station was empty and deserted with only three soldiers guarding its entrance. Two of them stood in front of the tall and large metal gates, armed with Mk 14 battle rifles while the third guard sat inside his outpost, staying vigilant and preventing outsiders from entering the base. But soon after, he narrows his eyes when he noticed something in distance.

The guard stood up from his seat and grabs his binoculars. As he looked through them, he spotted four military cargo trucks driving down the lone road and making their way towards the Air Station. The guard puts down his binoculars and walks out of the outpost.

When the trucks came to a complete halt in front of the gates, the guard and the two armed soldiers walk over to the front most truck. The window lowered to reveal a woman dressed in a white hat and navy uniform.

"Excuse me ma'am. I'm not sure if you were given the notifications but today, the Naval Air Station is closed to all USAF and IDF personnel." The guard said to the driver.

When he heard footsteps, the guard turned his head to see a man dressed in a white officer hat, black US navy uniform, white pants and black shoes.

"Admiral." The guard paused for a moment to give his salute. "I'm sorry to say but that includes you. Today, the Naval Air Station is out of bounds to all-"

The admiral looks down at his shoes. As he kneels down to tie his laces, four masked mercenaries came out from the back of the cargo truck and rapidly fire their rifles at the guard and soldiers. As the three men drop to the ground, the admiral got up and removes his officer hat, revealing his messy brown hair.

"Open the gates!" Kirei ordered the mercenaries. The four obliged and head over to the gates. One of them draws out a large pair of bolt cutters to break the lock and chains surrounding the gate handles.

When the lock and chains hit the ground, the four mercenaries push the gates open while Kirei returns into the back of the truck. After the gates were pushed wide open, the four mercenaries head back into their truck and they drive into the Naval Air Station.

The four trucks drive over to the nearest hangar. When they stop in front of the large pair of doors, Kirei and the driver got out of the trucks. The driver removes her hat and unties her bun, letting her long white hair hang down freely.

"Get the doors open and store the crates into the plane!" Sakura commanded the masked mercenaries.

The mercenaries got of the trucks, each of them carrying two large metal crates containing the Od serum in both hands. Three mercenaries place their crates down and in front of the hangar doors so that they can go over to the left side of the building. They cut the wires of a control panel and enter the hangar through the now unlocked door next to it. A few minutes later, the large hangar doors slowly slide open, revealing an enormous US military cargo aircraft. As Kirei and Sakura casually walk over into the hangar, the mercenaries rush past them and make their way to the aircraft while carrying the crates of serum in their hands.

But Kirei suddenly widens his eyes, realizing that things don't go according to plan for long.

"Duck!" Kirei yelled as he roughly push Sakura aside. As he stood in front of her, he swiftly draws out his knives and swings his arm diagonally to deflect a bullet.

"We've been found! Move faster!" Sakura shouted at the mercenaries.

At the entrance of the Air Station, there was a military jeep parked next to the outpost. Kneeling next to the jeep was a muscular man with long dark blonde hair tied to a ponytail, who cursed under his breath as he lowers his sniper rifle, realizing that his shot has been blocked and their targets have spotted them.

"They're making their retreat!" The sniper said to a woman sitting in the passenger seat of a military jeep beside him. The woman has long light purple hair, a red tattoo on her forehead and wears a dark purple mask over her eyes, a sleeveless black dress, black sleeves over her arms and long black stockings and boots.

"Change of plan." The woman said. "Chiron, get back inside!"

Chiron quickly puts away his sniper rifle and got into the back of the jeep, sitting beside a boy with glasses and short dark blonde hair and a girl with long and wavy dark blonde hair. Both of them wear similar long-sleeved white uniforms, black pants and black shoes.

"Caules, Fiore, get yourselves ready." The light purple-haired woman said to them.

"Aye!" The two responded as Caules draws out his pistol while Fiore picks up her backpack and quickly straps it onto her back.

Finally, the light purple-haired woman turns to the jeep's driver. "Ayako, step on it!"

"Understood!" Ayako replied with a smirk. She steps on the gas pedal and drives towards the hangar.

Meanwhile, as soon as the back door of the cargo aircraft hits the floor, two mercenaries quickly head into the cockpit while the others bring the crates in and place them gently onto the aircraft floor.

Kirei draws out some more knives with his other hand while Sakura takes out a pair of submachineguns. The three mercenaries who stay with Kirei and Sakura draw out their rifles.

Sakura and the mercenaries fire their guns at the oncoming jeep heading towards them. Ayako drives the jeep side to side to avoid the incoming bullets. As they hang onto their seats, Caules passes a metallic glove to Fiore.

"Take them down, sis." Caules smiled at her as he adjusts his glasses.

"Try taking some of them down yourself too." Fiore smiled warmly at her brother as she takes the glove and puts it onto her right hand.

After Fiore flexed her fingers, Medusa turns to her. "Fiore, go!"

Fiore lowers the window next to her and carefully climbs through the opening. Caules helps her by carrying her paralyzed legs and push them through the open window as his sister makes her way to the top of the jeep.

As soon as she finds herself lying on top of the jeep, Fiore places her fingers onto the palm of her metallic glove and four giant metallic spider-like limbs came out from her backpack. The two bottom limbs poke through the top of the jeep, allowing Fiore to carry herself up in the air. The two top limbs aim at Kirei, Sakura and the mercenaries. The spikes open up to reveal two machine gun barrels and they rapidly fire several bullets at their enemies.

Two mercenaries are shot and fell to the ground while Kirei, Sakura and the remaining masked man roll over the floor to dodge the bullets.

Kirei swings his arms diagonally, sending four knives flying over to their enemies. Two of them stab through the machinegun barrels of Fiore's metal limbs. One knife pierces through the radiator grilles of the jeep, while the last knife bursts one of the front tires. This sends the jeep skidding to the side. Fiore hangs onto the top of the jeep with her two bottom metal limbs while Ayako steps on the brake and frantically turns the steering wheel around. The jeep skids around in a circle and quickly came to a halt.

Fiore jumps off from the jeep and lands on the road with her bottom metal limbs. She quickly removes the knives from her damaged top limbs and charges towards the entrance of the hangar. Medusa, Ayako, Chiron and Caules also quickly got out of their jeep and run after their teammate.

"Get the remaining crates into the aircraft. We'll deal with them." Sakura said to the surviving mercenary who is still staying beside her. As Kirei and Sakura run over to their enemies, the mercenary got up from the ground and pick up two of the remaining crates that are still placed at the hangar's entrance. Two other mercenaries go over to the hangar entrance to help carry the last four crates into the aircraft.

Medusa, Ayako, Chiron and Caules stop and fire their guns at Sakura. Sakura swiftly dodges the bullets by running side to side. When she got near to Ayako, she delivers a swift punch into her gut. Ayako gasped for a moment before having her hair grabbed by Sakura. Sakura turns around and delivers a hip toss, slamming Ayako onto the ground.

Chiron and Caules could only fire their pistols for a brief moment before Sakura charged towards them and knock both of them out by swinging her arms horizontally at their faces as she ran past them. After Chiron and Caules hit the ground on their backs, Sakura turns to Medusa who tosses her rifle away and draws out two large daggers with chains attached to the bottom of their hilts.

When Kirei and Fiore got near to each other, Fiore immediately thrusts her top metal limbs at Kirei. Kirei dodges one of her top limbs by ducking and then deflects the next one with his knives.

Kirei made several horizontal swings with his knives at Fiore, who dodge every one of them by backing away. Kirei suddenly does a backflip. As he does, he delivers a swift vertical kick which collides against the bottom of Fiore's jaw. Fiore responded with a gasp of pain. After Kirei lands on the ground, he quickly got up and swings his knives diagonally at her, leaving three slashes across her uniform and cutting the straps of her backpack in the process. He gave a massive kick into Fiore's stomach, sending her sprawling through the ground while her backpack falls off of her back in the process.

"Sis!" Caules yelled as he lay on the ground. He tried to get up but Sakura stomps onto his face, knocking him out and breaking the lens of his glasses.

Medusa charged towards Sakura and swings her daggers at her. Sakura dodges her attacks by doing a backflip. Medusa runs over to her and swings her right dagger vertically at her. Sakura slides to the side unharmed and hits the right side of Medusa's head with her left elbow. Medusa backs away for a moment, allowing Sakura to deliver several punches across her face. Sakura finishes it off by delivering a powerful uppercut which collides at the bottom of Medusa's chin, causing her to drop her right dagger in the process. As Medusa backs away and looks back up at her opponent, Sakura casually cracks her knuckles.

"Is that really the best you got?" Sakura asked flatly.

Medusa spits some blood out of her mouth before letting out a ferocious yell as she charged towards Sakura once more. Sakura thrusts her fist forward, but Medusa quickly dodges her attack by jumping in the air and does a somersault.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, Medusa swiftly whirled about and stabs her dagger onto Sakura's back. Sakura yells in pain as Medusa quickly wraps the chain around her neck several times. She grabs Sakura's right hand and tightens her grip around her neck. Sakura gasps for air as she grabs Medusa's chain with her left hand and struggles to pull it out from her neck.

"Surrender now and I'll show you mercy!" Medusa demanded.

As Sakura struggles to breathe, suddenly a knife draws out from underneath the left sleeve of her dress. She swiftly uses her knife to stab Medusa's left thigh. Medusa yells in pain as she releases Sakura's right hand and loosens the grip of her chain around her neck.

As Medusa backs away, Sakura turns around and draws out her other knife underneath her right sleeve. She yells furiously as she charged at Medusa and stabs her knives into her stomach. Medusa screams in agonizing pain again as Sakura pins her onto the ground. After Sakura withdraws her knives back into the bottom of her sleeves, she pulls out Medusa's dagger from her back and brings it down onto her enemy's shoulder.

Medusa shrieked again as Sakura glares at her, quivering with rage. She lifts her right arm up, drawing out her right knife and aiming at her throat. But right before she could bring it down and end Medusa's life, a bullet graze through the skin of her right arm.

Sakura cries in pain and turns her head to see Ayako and Chiron, who have both got up from the ground during their fight, firing their rifle and pistols at her.

Medusa quickly took the opportunity to swing her fist across Sakura's face, getting her off of her. But just before Medusa could get up, Kirei rushes over to her and swings his knives diagonally at her chest, sending her falling to the ground injured.

Kirei runs over to Sakura and stood in front of her, deflecting the bullets with his knives. As soon as the firing stops, Kirei swings his arms diagonally and two of his knives stab into Ayako and Chiron's shoulders. They both cry in pain as they drop their guns.

"We have taken them down and all of our serum is secured! We must go!" Kirei said firmly to his ally.

Sakura snorted in frustration before they whirl about and run back into the hangar. They got into the back of the cargo aircraft and sat alongside with their mercenaries while their crates of serum are placed securely in the middle of the sitting area. Sakura looks down at her right arm for a moment to see her skin patching up. She could also feel the wound on her back closing itself up. She wipes off the blood from her arm after it heals up. When the back door closes, the mercenaries start the aircraft and drive out of the hangar.

As they stay on the ground, Ayako, Chiron, Fiore and Medusa look up to see the aircraft leaving the hangar and into the runway. Chiron aims his sniper rifle at the aircraft and pulls the trigger. A few moments later, the aircraft lifts itself up from the ground and flies into the sky.

Medusa cursed under her breath as their enemies leave. Fiore crawls over to her still unconscious brother while Medusa, Ayako and Chiron slowly get up from the ground and stagger towards each other.

"Are you alright?" Medusa asked her injured teammates in concern.

"We're hurt badly, but we'll live." Chiron responded.

"We've been through worse." Ayako added with an assuring smirk.

"What about Caules?" Medusa asked, turning to Fiore who places her hand on the side of Caules' neck.

"He's knocked out, but still alive." Fiore said in relief as she could feel her brother's pulse.

Medusa sighed dejectedly. "Our enemies have escaped with the Od serum."

"Not all hope is lost though." Chiron said. "Ayako, can you go get your laptop?"

* * *

Everybody in the yacht gathered inside Saber's office. Despite now being 7 in the morning at their current location, four members of the team are feeling worn out after they are rudely woken up from their sleep by their leader. Yukari is rubbing her tired eyes; Ricky and Illya are slowly moving their heads side to side with squinted eyelids, trying their best to awake and Chulainn lets out a heavy yawn. Rin, who stood next to him, narrows her eyes at him in annoyance and nudges his arm with her elbow. Shirou stares at the four as he stood next to Rin and shakes his head.

"God, you guys look and act like you came out from a pile of shit." Saber rebuked as she sat behind her desk and glares at Yukari, Ricky, Illya and Chulainn.

"It's Chulainn's idea to stay awake until one-thirty in the morning to watch Swansea City VS Manchester United." Ricky said dully while pointing a finger at Chulainn.

"Don't blame me! We're currently in Fiji right now! If we were in the Atlantic or at least Southeast Asia, we wouldn't have to stay up late!" Chulainn protested.

"I'm surprised you went along with them, Yukari. I didn't know you are actually a fan of football." Shirou said to Yukari.

"Not really." Yukari groaned wearily. "I would have slept early if Ricky, Chulainn and Illya hadn't tempted me to having a beer party, which includes watching the match with them."

"It's two for the price of one at least." Illya said, lifting her finger up with a wide and dumb grin on her face.

"Oh shut up, you lot." Saber muttered irritably. "Anyways, listen up! Eleven hours ago, Team Medusa engaged Zouken Matou's men at the Keflavik Naval Air Station in Iceland. Although they failed to stop them, one of their teammates, Chiron, managed to fire a tracking beacon onto the aircraft they have escaped on."

Saber turns her laptop on her desk around to show everyone the map of the world displayed on the screen. There is a diagonal red line which starts from Iceland and ends just underneath the Southeast Region of Brazil. The line is still inching slowly at a snail's pace.

"It appears they have just flown past Sao Paulo." Saber said. "But judging by the direction they are heading, it looks like they are flying-"

"To the end of the world." Illya sang wearily.

"Huh?" Ricky, Yukari, Shirou, Rin and Chulainn said incredulously.

"They are literally heading towards hell?" Chulainn said with his eyes widened.

"No, you bozo." Illya glares at Chulainn, rolling her eyes. "The place that is nicknamed 'The End of the World'." She goes over to the laptop and places her finger onto the end of the red line, then slides her finger towards the very bottom of the country of Argentina. "The Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego."

"Right. Thanks for clarifying, Illya." Saber said as she scratches her head.

"Herzlich Willkommen." Illya replied wearily as she backs away.

"Anyways, Kiritsugu has assigned us to go after the aircraft since we are currently nearest team to South America. It is said that the aircraft contains several crates of Od serum."

As soon as she said those magic words, Ricky's eyes widened in surprise, the feeling of shock has helped him woken up from his drowsiness.

"If that is the case, could this mean that Tierra del Fuego is where Zouken Matou is hiding since the collapse of his company?" Ricky inquired.

"Maybe. But only one way to find out." Saber said to him before turning to Rin. "Rin, start the boat. Take us to the exact location of the coordinates."

"You got it, boss." Rin replied coldly with her eyes narrowed.

Yukari watched as Rin whirled about and leaves the room. She vividly remembered Rin telling her that the main reason for joining Saber's team is to get her revenge on Matou Industries. She was initially satisfied that Matou Industries have taken a huge hit after the exposure of their plans they had taken from Uryu's hideout, but learning that they still remain active despite the closure of their headquarters reignite Rin's desire to get her payback on the people who ruin her life again.

And this time, it will be personal.

* * *

The yacht kept sailing eastwards for hours. The further they travel through the South Atlantic Ocean, the temperature greatly decline and the currents and tides became stronger. But thankfully with Rin's driving and navigation skills, they endure the strong waves for hours. Throughout their journey to South America, Rin didn't take a break. She never shows up at the dining area for lunch or dinner. Shirou would occasionally enter the bridge to place Rin's food behind her seat, but she never took a single bite of it.

Before anyone knew it, they arrived at a southernmost tip of South America. The terrain has completely changed from the sunny seaside of Fiji to tall trees and mountains covered with snow and several sheets of ice floating at the sides of the water.

Rin glances at the monitor in front of her before placing her finger on her earpiece. "Saber, we are almost near our destination."

"Good. We're getting prepared for our mission. You should to." Saber replied.

"I know that, boss." Rin replied flatly before removing her finger from her earpiece.

Soon after, Yukari enters the bridge to see Rin still sitting on the chair and controlling the yacht with the helm. She glances at the back of her seat to see both of Shirou's meals he cooked for lunch and dinner still laying on the floor and left untouched. Yukari looks back up at Rin and walks over to her.

"Miss Yukino, I know it's you." Rin said flatly.

"Rin, you said that you wanted revenge on Zouken Matou for what he did to your family. How exactly did he ruin the lives of you and your family?" Yukari inquired.

Rin lets out a sigh and stayed silent for a few seconds. She turns to Yukari with a cold glare. "Ever wonder how Matou Industries, a small firmware company that only started five years ago, suddenly became a multi-billion dollar conglomerate within just three years after its foundation? You think Zouken Matou accomplished that by hard work? Perseverance? Years of stacking up his life savings?" Rin snorted. "No. All he just did was betray his closest business partner, which force his partner's widow to reluctantly sign a contract to hand over all of his assets to him."

Yukari widens her eyes. "You mean…"

"Yes." Rin nodded before turning back to her front. "That business partner of his…was my father, Tokiomi Tohsaka. The late and last CEO of the Tohsaka Corporation."

* * *

_**Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina** _

An hour later, Rin parked the yacht near a deserted beach. Saber and her team got into the speedboat and head over to the shore. After getting out of the boat and stepping onto the shore, Illya led the group as she holds up her smartphone which displays the blinking coordinates of the stolen military aircraft from Icelandic base. It is about a hundred miles from their current location and they waste no time to head over to their destination. Saber and her team are dressed in insulated winter jackets with hoods placed over their heads, ready to brave through the harsh cold conditions of the southernmost part of the Americas.

After leaving the beach, the team find themselves walking through a lush, green forest filled with large rocks and tall trees. About thirty minutes later, the team knows that they are almost out of the forest as its terrain grew smaller as they continue moving forward.

"We are reaching our destination." Illya said. She lowers her smartphone as the team finally steps out of the forest.

To their surprise however, they didn't find a military aircraft. Instead, it was just an open grassy field with rocks laying everywhere.

"Where's the plane?" Rin asked in confusion. Illya looks at her smartphone again and rushes over to the exact location of the tracking beacon. When she finds herself standing at the exact location, she turns off her smartphone and puts it away. She looks down and sees Chiron's tracking beacon placed onto a rock in front of her.

"It seems our enemy knows that Team Medusa placed a beacon on their aircraft. So they removed it and led us here." Illya said as her teammates walk over to her.

"Fuck." Saber uttered. "These bastards led us into a snipe hunt."

"What are we going to do now?" Ricky asked.

Shirou looks up and his eyes suddenly widened in mortified horror. He notices a silhouette hiding in the shadows and kneeling on a branch of a tree in the distance. When he noticed the silhouette swinging its arm horizontally, Shirou screamed, "BACK AWAY!"

His teammates are alarmed by Shirou's outburst. As soon as they see several grenades landing in front of them, everyone whirl about and spring to the ground before they explode.

After the smoke cleared, Saber removes her hands from the back of her head and looks up. "Everybody okay?!" She asked.

"I'm fine!" Ricky instantly replied as everyone look up at her.

"Good." Rin responded.

"Still in one piece." Chulainn replied.

"I'm alright." Illya said.

"Fine." Yukari said.

"I'm o-ACK!" Shirou suddenly cried in pain. Saber, Ricky, Rin, Illya, Chulainn and Yukari gasp as they turn to Shirou, landing his head on the ground after a knife stab through the back of his left shoulder.

Illya growled as she got up and turn to the trees. "WHO DID THAT, ESPECIALLY TO MY BROTHER?! I'M GONNA-"

"GET DOWN!" Rin shouted as she tackles Illya to the ground, just as another knife flew through the air and barely misses Rin's hair by an inch. As they hit the ground, Illya looks up and sees Rin, lying on top of her with her finger placed in front of her lips, telling her to remain silent.

However, the silence is broken when several bullets fire above the team as they remain on the ground.

"We have to split up! Keep in touch through our earphones!" Saber commanded. "Lancer, take Archer with you!"

Chulainn gave a brief nod to Saber before crawling over to Shirou. He places his hand over Shirou's mouth as he removes the knife from his back, muffling his scream. Saber, Ricky and Yukari turn to their right and they crawl away. The remaining four turn to their front and escape into the forest. The grass is tall enough for them to conceal their bodies as they make their way out of the field.

Sakura stops her firing and lowers her submachineguns. She cursed under her breath, noticing that the grass are swaying side to side, knowing that her targets have split into two groups and are crawling away to safety. She decides to go after the group heading back into the forest for now, hoping that she can deal with the other later. Sakura jumps down from the branch. As soon as her feet lands on the grass, she dashes off after Chulainn, Shirou, Rin and Illya.

When Chulainn, Shirou, Rin and Illya reach the edge of the forest, they quickly got up from the grass and run off. Chulainn has his arm wrapped around Shirou to support him.

After running for a few moments, Shirou and Lancer go over to a rock. They hide behind it and sat down on the ground. Shirou took heavy breaths as a pool of blood is forming on the back of his jacket and his left sleeve.

"Stay with us, Archer. " Chulainn said softly as he draws out his Ak-47 rifle and places his hand on Shirou's left knee.

While standing behind a nearby tree, Rin and Illya stare at the rock which Shirou and Chulainn have hid behind. Rin whispered to Shirou through her earpiece, "Archer, how many were there?"

Shirou places his finger onto his earpiece and replied softly, "Only one."

Suddenly, a grenade landed near Rin and Illya. They turn to their left and gasped as smoke burst out from the grenade. Rin and Illya coughed heavily as the area is quickly filled with thick smoke. Chulainn and Shirou poke their heads out of their hiding spot and widen their eyes as they notice the smoke.

"Rider! Berserker!" Chulainn cried with his finger placed on his earpiece.

After giving a few more coughs, Rin looked around her area through her squinted eyelids. Despite Illya standing beside her a moment ago, she has quickly vanished from her sight.

"Berserker! Where are you?" Rin cried in concern.

She got her answer when Illya was suddenly thrown through the air and collided against Rin. The two girls groan as they collapse to the ground. Rin turns to Illya and widen her eyes in horror to see her face covered with bruises.

"Berserker!" Rin shouted in horror. She turns back to her front in time to see a silhouette charging towards her. She pushed Illya to the side right before Sakura comes out of the smoke and sprung over to her.

Rin grabs Sakura's arms just in time before she could thrust her left knife into her. She is unable to take a good look at her as Sakura's eyes are concealed by the fringe of her hair. The two push themselves against each other with all of their strength, trying to overwhelm the other. But Rin managed to break free by throwing her head forward, slamming her forehead against Sakura's. Sakura yelped as she backs away, allowing Rin to bring her fist up and deliver a powerful punch underneath Sakura's jaw. Instantly, Sakura was sent stumbling backwards. Rin gets up from the ground as the smoke begins to clear. Sakura regains her balance and lifts her head up at her enemy.

As soon as Rin took a good look at Sakura's gaze of rage, she instantly went dead silent. Her jaw dropped, her skin rapidly turn pale and her beautiful blue eyes almost bugged out of their sockets as immeasurable horror set in. Staring at Sakura felt like she had come face-to-face with the Devil. But she never expect it to be in the form of someone awfully familiar to her, causing several memories of her past to come flooding back into her mind like a mighty tsunami. When Rin finally manage to regain control of her paralyzed vocal cords, she stuttered,

"S-s-sis?"

Sakura narrows her eyes in response.

"Who the hell is sis?"


	16. Tierra del Fuego Province, Part 2

Rin froze in horror again. She couldn't believe what she had just heard from her long lost sister.

"W-w-what are you talking about?" Rin said with her voice shaking. "Sakura! You're my sister! We both are!"

Sakura draws out her knife from underneath her left sleeve. "Shut…UP!"

Rin couldn't move a muscle as Sakura charged towards her. All she could do was stand there with her eyes wide in mortified shock and disbelief.

But before it could be the end of her life, Sakura quickly stop at her tracks and leans back as several bullets flew pass her, barely missing her chest.

"RIDER! RUN!" Chulainn shouted at Rin before holding up and aiming his AK-47 rifle at Sakura again.

When he fires his rifle again, Sakura swings her arms in incredible speed as she deflects the bullets with her knives.

"HANG ON BERSERKER!" Shirou shouted. As Sakura is distracted, Shirou takes the opportunity to run over to Illya who is still lying on the ground motionless, as well as Rin who is still standing beside her.

Chulainn kept firing his rifle until it ran out of bullets. "Shit!" He said as he quickly removes the empty clip from his rifle.

Sakura turns her head and sees Shirou reaching Rin and Illya. She runs over to him and swings her right knife at him. Shirou dodges it by throwing himself back. He yells as he thrust forward and gave a headbutt to Sakura's stomach, tackling her to the ground. As he gets off of Sakura by rolling over to the side, he looks up at Rin with a scowl.

"HEY! WAKE UP!" Shirou shouted at Rin, who is still standing there dumbfounded the entire time.

Sakura growls as she turns to Shirou. She gets up and sat on top of Shirou. Shirou widens his eyes in horror as Sakura brings her right knife up, aiming at his throat.

"I've finish you off for good." Sakura said icily.

Suddenly, Chulainn lets out a yell as he runs over to her. Sakura barely turns her head in time to see Chulainn swinging his rifle horizontally at her. He slams the buttstock of his rifle across the left side of Sakura's jaw, getting her off of Shirou and sending her falling to the ground on her back.

Chulainn turns to Shirou, gesturing him to take Rin away. Shirou nodded in response. He gets up from the ground, wincing in pain as he accidentally rolled onto his back shoulder wound. He ignored the pain and grabs Rin's shoulders. Rin finally snaps out of her thoughts and she finds herself being escorted out of the area by Shirou. Chulainn stomps onto Sakura's head, knocking her out unconscious before going over to Illya. He picks her up, cradling her gently in his arms and carrying her to safety.

After everyone had left the area, Sakura's eyes snap open as she quickly regain consciousness. She groaned as she gets up and sat on the ground. She cups her chin and cracks her jaw to the side, pushing it back to its original alignment.

Sakura growled as her brows furrowed. She hated the fact that her targets have gotten away from her. But she will hunt them down within minutes. And when she finds them, she will finish the job this time.

* * *

Shirou, Rin and Chulainn, who is still carrying the motionless Illya in his arms, kept running until they discovered a small cave. They all entered the cave, feeling relief that they can finally catch a break.

Shirou and Rin both sat next to each other and against the wall while Chulainn gently lays Illya on the ground. As soon as he did, Illya suddenly jolts up and gave Chulainn a tight embrace.

"Oh Archer, thank you so much for saving my life." Illya said passionately to Chulainn with her eyes closed before planting a few kisses on his cheek.

"Actually Berserker, it's me." Chulainn said apologetically. Illya's eyes snap open. She turns to Chulainn, dumbstruck with surprise and embarrassment.

"Oh." Illya said as she felt her heart sank. "We can never have nice things all the time."

"Are you okay?" Shirou asked Rin, resting his hand on her shoulder. Rin turns her head dumbly to Shirou and gave a slight nod.

"Y-y-yeah. Thanks." Rin replied softly.

"Rin, who was that?" Shirou inquired.

"Yeah man." Chulainn said as he and Illya stare at Rin. "Why did you look so surprised to see her? Was she someone you knew?"

Rin nods her head again. "She's more than someone I knew." She murmured. "We were both related by blood."

Shirou, Chulainn and Illya fell silent as their eyes widened. "What are you saying?" Illya asked.

"That woman we fought…" Rin said hoarsely. "Her name is Sakura. And she is my sister."

* * *

_**2 Years Ago…** _

_**Los Angeles, California, United States** _

Calm, beautiful and soothing music played throughout the large living room of a huge Bel Air mansion. It came from a violin, being played by a 17-year old girl with long purple hair who is dressed in a pink long-sleeved shirt and a long white skirt.

As she played her violin, an older woman with long black hair that flows down to her waist and wears a white long-sleeved dress sat on a nearby couch, watching and listening attentively to her daughter. However, Rin, who is sitting beside her, isn't doing the same thing as she laid back on the sofa, sleeping soundly with her eyes closed, an arm placed on the top edge of the couch, and her head tilted to the side.

When the purple-haired girl finished playing her violin, the older woman claps her hands, applauding her daughter's spectacular performance.

"I'm sure you'll do great at the finals tonight, Sakura." The older woman said with a warm smile.

"Thank you, mother." Sakura bows her head and smiled back.

"Mmm, yeah…" Rin groaned in her sleep.

"Okay everyone. I'm almost done and ready to go." A man said as he entered the living room while tying a dark blue ribbon around the collar of his white shirt that is underneath his dark red suit. He has blue eyes, tousled shoulder-length hair and a short goatee on his chin. The older woman walks over to him to help him button up his suit. "Thank you, honey."

"You look great, Tokiomi dear." The woman smiled at her husband.

"Yeah…great…" Rin murmured in her sleep as Sakura goes over to the table in front of the couch and carefully places her violin and bow into its case.

Tokiomi narrows his eyes at Rin before turning back to his wife, "Aoi, who's this hobo sleeping in our home?"

"Haha, very funny dad." Rin responded in annoyance. She finally opens her eyelids and gets up from the sofa as her father's joke had ruined her nap.

"Come on, Rin. Show some respect." Aoi chided her daughter.

"Right, especially when you're 17 years of age now. Not long from now, you have to start reflecting yourself. Get out of that mechanical shop you're currently working at and take over the family company from me." Tokiomi said sternly. Rin groans as she scratches her untidied hair. After zipping her violin case, Sakura goes over to her sister and smiled at her.

"Father is telling you that for your own good, Rin." Sakura said soothingly as she strokes and tidies her sister's hair.

"Uh-huh." Rin replied to her dully. Suddenly, Sakura's brows furrowed and she leans closer to Rin's ear.

"You've been street racing last night again, haven't you?" Sakura whispered.

"Yeah, I did. But so what? I won the race as always and earn 35 Ben Franklins." Rin replied softly back to her with shrugged shoulders and a smug grin on her face.

"But you know I can't hide this from mom and dad forever." Sakura said to her in concern. "And wouldn't it be better to earn money by working in Dad's company than working in a garage and recklessly risking your life in street races?"

"And get nagged by Dad 9 hours a day? Yeah right." Rin replied, rolling her eyes.

"I know you and Dad don't get along well. But how would he feel if you ever get yourself killed one day?" Sakura said worriedly. "I know you want to be independent and there's nothing wrong with that. But you still have to make the right decisions in how you want to handle your life, and nobody is going to help you with that when our parents aren't around for us anymore."

Rin remains silent as she lowers her head with a frustrated scowl. Sakura gave a gentle pat on her shoulder.

"There will come a time when either you stand by yourself or the people who care for you." Sakura said solemnly to her sister.

"What are you two talking about?" Tokiomi asked, noticing that his daughters are spending an awful amount of time whispering among themselves.

"Nothing, dad." Sakura said, turning to her with a tender smile. "Just talking about our upcoming vacation to Barbados."

"Yup, I look forward to it." Rin said to her father, giving him a forced grin and a thumbs-up.

"Are you sure you two will make it to the competition in time?" Aoi asked Tokiomi in concern.

"Which is why we have to go there now. I got to drop by at Sacramento first to meet the governor, which will take six hours from here, before we can head to San Francisco. Thankfully the two cities aren't far from each other."

Rin frowned at her sister and gave her a pat on her shoulder. "Good luck in the competition, Sakura."

"Thanks." Sakura smiled back at Rin. "Can I get a big smile from my sister before I go?" It took a few seconds but Rin managed to flash a sad smile at her. "That's better." Sakura gave Rin a quick hug before grabbing her violin case and walk over to her parents.

Sakura and Aoi gave each other a loving embrace. After breaking away from each other, Aoi asked Rin, "Rin? Aren't you going to say goodbye to your father as well?" She gestured her daughter to Tokiomi.

Rin stared wordlessly at Tokiomi for a few moments before walking over to him and giving him a hug.

"I love you Dad." Rin said to her father, her voice sounding dull and not happy.

"I love you too, Rin." Tokiomi replied as he hugs her back. "You and your mother take good care of yourselves while we're gone." He gave a pat on Rin's shoulders before he turned and headed to the door. "Come on Sakura."

"Goodbye everyone." Sakura said, waving her hand farewell to her sister and mother.

"Goodbye." Aoi and Rin both replied, waving back at Sakura.

As Rin watched Sakura following after her father and making her way out, she blows a heavy sigh as she contemplate what her sister had said to her.

"Take care." She added before Sakura steps out of the house and closes the door behind her.

What Rin and her mother never expect is that this would be the last time they would ever see Tokiomi and Sakura alive.

* * *

"And then what happened?" Chulainn asked Rin as he, Shirou and Illya gaze at her.

As Rin curled up against the wall with her arms wrapped around her legs, her skin turned pale as she lowers her head. "One hour later, my mom and I received the news from the police that my father and sister were found dead in the middle of Kings County. Their car crashed with an unknown vehicle, and its engine exploded shortly afterwards. The car burst in flames by the explosion and their bodies were burned in the fire." Her eyes softened as she tightens her grip around her legs. "I could still remember the look of horror and despair on my mother's face. She nearly fainted if I haven't come into the living room and catch her in time. She was crying and wailing over the loss of her husband and daughter. I couldn't believe it myself as well. Sakura was the closest person in my life, and now she was gone. Or so I thought back then."

"If the police found your sister's dead body, how is she still alive?" Shirou asked.

"I…I don't know!" Rin replied with her tone mixed with confusion and frustration.

"But what kind of role Matou Industries played in any of this? Why are they responsible for their deaths?" Illya inquired.

"Well, it was during their funeral…" Rin answered.

* * *

_**2 Years Ago…** _

_**Los Angeles, California, United States** _

Rin stared into her lap as she listened to the eulogy. Her mother sat next to her, crying into Rin's shoulder. Rin refused to look up throughout the funeral as that would mean staring at the closed caskets containing the bodies of her father and sister. Tokiomi and Sakura Tohsaka, two family members of her flesh and blood are gone, and she still couldn't believe it. For the last seven days before the funeral, both Rin and Aoi were overwhelmed with sorrow and despair. While she and Tokiomi didn't get along, Rin can't deny the fact that he was still the man who raised her. She wished that if things had gone differently between the both of them, their relationship could have been close. But sadly, he is gone now and Rin never had a chance to understand more of him before his death.

Sakura's death was also a huge loss for both Rin and Aoi. Sakura was in many ways more talented and intelligent than Rin, but there was never any rivalry between the two sisters. Sakura was a true sister to her. She cared deeply for Rin and wanted to help her gain the same amount of love and praise as her from their parents. But with Sakura gone along with her father, Rin had no one left to turn to and her mother is too devastated to help anyone anymore. Rin had not only lost a sister, but also lost the closest person in her life.

The deaths of Tokiomi and Sakura hit her mother hard too. Aoi couldn't stop crying and gain control of herself for the last seven days. The man she had loved her whole life is gone, and so is one of her beloved children. Losing both of them felt like losing a part of herself. She has no idea if she can ever find the strength to move on with her life without the man she loves.

"I know that my redeemer lives. And that, in the end, he will stand upon the Earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I will see God. I, myself, will see him, with my own eyes. I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me. Amen."

When the pastor finished the eulogy, he closes the Bible. Everybody except Rin and Aoi got up from their seats. They lined up in a queue as they slowly walk over to the caskets to place their flowers on. Rin and Aoi however remain at their seats as neither of them could feel like standing up right now. It is only after everyone had left and the pastor encouraged them to pay their final respects to Tokiomi and Sakura did they finally get up.

Aoi walks over and stands in front of the caskets of her husband and daughter. She fell to her knees and weeps uncontrollably. She mourns and grieves over her deceased husband until she felt as if she had let it all out she could, though the pain would not leave her.

After two men in black suits helped Aoi get up from the grass, it was Rin's turn to walk over and stand in front of the caskets. She gazed emotionlessly for a few moments before she could finally speak, "Father…I' sorry that I never had the chance to prove to you how good I can be. How I wish I could prove to you that I'm worthy to be your heir to our family company before you died. How I wish I could stop wild my days away and take my role as the company heir seriously. But…it's too late. I was naïve…irresponsible…" Tears began forming in her eyes as she sniffed. "I'm sorry, father…"

Rin slowly turns her gaze to Sakura's casket. "And Sakura…I'm sorry too. I know how much you cared for me…loved me…and yet…I took you for granted." As Rin paused for a moment to sniff, her tears began running down her cheeks. "And no matter how much I apologize…how sorry I truly am…I'm still a failure…I failed…in being a good sister…to you-"

Rin wailed as she fell on her knees and hung her head in shame and sorrow. She placed her hands on the ground and sobbed uncontrollably, letting her tears pour through her closed eyelids. She continued crying and weeping, mourning the deaths of her father and sister as her tears splashed onto the grass. Tokiomi and Sakura are gone and there is no way to go back in time to make up for her mistakes.

* * *

When the burial of the caskets is over, Rin and Aoi make their way out of the graveyard and head over to their black limousine, parked at the side of the road. Their eyes have dried from their tears, but there is no longer any spirit and demeanor inside them, only the sense of emptiness and hopelessness.

"Excuse me, are you Aoi Tohsaka-Phillips?"

As soon as they heard a voice, Rin and Aoi stopped right beside their limousine and turn their heads. They see a man with short brown hair, dressed in a black suit and carrying a metal briefcase in his left hand, walking towards them. "Y-y-yes. Who are you?" Aoi asked weakly.

"My name is Kirei Kotomine." Kirei said grimly as he bowed to Aoi and Rin. "I came here on behalf of Matou Industries, the closest business partner of your husband's company. Our CEO, Zouken Matou, gives his sympathies and deepest condolences to you and your daughter. Your husband was both a close collaborator and a true friend to our company."

"Thank you." Aoi murmured as she and Rin bowed back to him.

Kirei turns his head to Rin. "You must be Rin Tohsaka. Your father told me about you and Sakura. I'm sorry for the loss of your father and sister."

"Thank you, sir." Rin said barely above a whisper before wrapping an arm around her mother.

"I know you two must have gone through a lot, but there is something that needs to be resolved." Kirei said.

"What is that?" Aoi asked.

"Tokiomi Tohsaka was supposed to come to Sacramento to sign a joint business deal with Matou Industries and the Californian government. Unfortunately, it was never finalized due to his sudden and unfortunate death." Kirei opens his briefcase, takes out a contract and hands it to Aoi. Aoi takes it to have a good look at it. The contract reads  _'Signing of the Tohsaka Corporation-Matou Industries Partnership Deal with the Government of the State of California.'_

"However, the deal can still be completed by the signing of a surviving relative of Tokiomi Tohsaka, especially his spouse." Kirei said.

Aoi nodded her head. "If my husband was still alive, he would have signed it and sees this partnership through."

Kirei takes out a ballpoint pen from underneath his suit. He removes the cover and hands it to Aoi. "Will you sign it?" He asked.

"Of course." Without hesitation, Aoi takes the pen and wrote her signature on the bottom right corner of the contract. She gave the pen and contract back to Kirei afterwards. He closes his pen and puts it back underneath his suit before bowing to Aoi and Rin with gratitude.

"Thank you very much. I know things look grim for the both of you right now. The future of your family company is definitely now questionable after the death of Tokiomi Tohsaka, but I'm sure both of you will find the strength to move forward and the leadership skills to keep the company alive and strong again." Kirei said solemnly.

"Yes. My surviving daughter Rin Tohsaka, will take over my husband as the next CEO of Tohsaka Corporation." Aoi said, causing Rin's face to lit up like a traffic light. "She will not fail in being the perfect successor to the company."

"I'm sure she won't." Kirei said, his lips forming into a small smile. He puts the signed contract back into his briefcase and locks it securely. He bows his head once more as he bid farewell. "Goodbye Aoi Tohsaka-Phillips, Rin Tohsaka. On behalf of Matou Industries, we hope the both of you can find peace again after what had happened." Aoi and Rin bows back at him before Kirei turns and leaves.

Rin turns to her mother and asked her nervously, "Mother, I'm still only 17-"

"Don't worry, Rin." Aoi said firmly to her daughter. She turned to Rin and places her hand on her shoulder. "I know you're feeling a lot of weight on your shoulders, especially because your family heavily depends on you now. But you still have me. And no matter what happens, I'll always be at your side, helping you all the way."

Rin stared at her mother as tears pooled up in her eyes. She threw her arms around her mother and gave her a loving embrace. Aoi sniffed as she hugs back her dear daughter.

"I love you, mom." Rin whispered to Aoi's ear.

"I love you too." Aoi replied.

The two break their hug a few seconds later and Rin realized aloud, "Oh, I forgot about my shawl. I left it at the chair beside where father and Sakura are buried. Give me a minute to go get it."

Aoi nods her head. "Of course. I'll be waiting here."

Rin gave her mother a small kiss on her cheek before walking off. It didn't take long for Rin to return to the burial site of her father and sister. She felt relief to see that her shawl is still laid on her chair. She grabs it, puts it on and makes her way back to her limousine.

But as she made her way back, she heard a familiar voice coming from a nearby tree.

"It is done, Matou-sama." Rin gave a small gasp and turned to her right. She sees Kirei standing behind a tree, talking to his cellphone. His briefcase is placed gently on the floor and the contract which her mother signed earlier was in his hand. "Yes. Aoi Tohsaka-Phillips has signed the papers to hand over all of Tokiomi Tohsaka's company assets to you."

Rin almost collapsed from shock upon hearing those words.

"W-w-what?" It was all she could murmur upon hearing that horrifying revelation. Her body began to tremble, hoping that she had misheard what Kirei had said.

"She thought she signed the partnership deal that Tokiomi was going to put his signature on at the State Capitol. She was wrong." Kirei said as he drops the paper in front of the actual contract that her mother had signed. To Rin's horror, she could see the top of the paper reads  _"Official transfer of ownership of Tohsaka Corporation's assets to Matou Industries."_

"Our job is now complete, Matou-sama. All assets that are originally belonged to the Tohsaka Corporation are officially yours." Kirei turns off his cellphone and puts it away into his pocket. He carefully places the real contract back into his briefcase and closes it securely. Thinking that he may be watched, Kirei turned his head for a moment. To his relief, there was no one near him. Or so he thought.

Rin was hiding behind a tree with her hands placed over her mouth. The sides of her head began to sweat and her heart is beating rapidly. It was so hard to believe, but it's true. Her mother had unknowingly handed their company's assets to Matou Industries.

She peeked out of her hiding spot to see Kirei picking up the fake contract from the ground. As he stood up, he takes out a cigarette lighter and lights it up. He holds the fake contract above the flame and it burned. When only a small corner of the paper is left, Kirei drops the burning paper onto the ground. He whirled about and makes his departure with his briefcase in his hand.

Rin collapses on her knees. For the second time of the day, she had felt the sense of devastation and hopelessness. Not only was her father and sister gone, but so was her family company and her future. She fell to the ground and laid there in a sobbing bundle. Rin cried in both pain and sorrow, unable to comprehend another tragedy that had happened to her and her mother.

It was all over for the both of them.

Tokiomi, Sakura and the company are gone.

Everything was gone.

* * *

"Everything that was dear to me, my father, my sister and my company are gone." Rin said with her voice mixed with sorrow and rage. "My mother and I fell into further depression. My mother's mental health declined and I struggled to take care of her. And in the end…." Rin took a hard gulp as fresh tears formed in her eyes. "She couldn't take it anymore. She became a victim of motherly love by letting herself get hit by an oncoming car. And that was it. I finally lost everything…" She grits her teeth. "And I blame the bastards at Matou Industries."

"And that was why you wanted to join us." Illya said sympathetically. Rin nodded as she wipes off the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.

"I will never stop until every person in that company pay for what they did to me and my family." Rin growled. Suddenly, everyone turned to the entrance of the cave when they heard the sound of grass and twigs being crashed.

"It's her! She's approaching towards our location." Shirou said in alarm, still clutching onto his left shoulder. Chulainn gets up from the ground into a kneeling position and aims his AK-47 rifle at the front. But Rin places her hand on the barrel of his rifle and lowers it.

"No. I'll deal with her alone." Rin said.

"Are you crazy?!" Shirou cried.

"Yeah! You know you're not alone, right?!" Illya chided. "We're all going to fight together."

"Thanks guys. But I have to try to reason with her." Rin said. "I know there is still a part of the sister I knew inside her." Rin pushes the strands of hair away from her forehead. Her brows furrowed as she builds up her determination to face Sakura. "I ran away from my responsibilities once, and my parents paid the price. I'm not going to let that happen to my sister too."

Shirou blows out a sigh. "Fine. But if anything goes wrong, we'll have to intervene." Illya and Chulainn nodded in agreement.

Rin smiled at Shirou and bows her head. "Thank you." She uttered. Rin turns back to the entrance of the cave and gets up from the ground. She walks her way out of the cave, ready to face Sakura alone. Illya growled as she gets out her bag containing the parts of her minigun and placed them on the ground, preparing to intervene if the meeting between both girls goes awry.

Shortly after Rin steps out of the cave, Sakura steps out of the bushes and faces her target, quivering with rage.

"You…" Sakura snarled.

Rin frowned at her, feeling her guilt and determination building up inside her. "Sakura…"


	17. Tierra del Fuego Province, Part 3

"Don't talk like you know me! I know nothing about you!" Sakura yelled.

"You haven't forgotten about me, Sakura. You just can't bring yourself to remember me. I know that." Rin said calmly.

"Shut up! You and your allies are my targets ever since I was given the mission to deliver the serum back to our hideout. I know that one of your allies fired a tracking beacon on the aircraft we stole back at Iceland. That's why we made a stop at Sao Paulo." Sakura explained. "To trick you all in thinking that we are still heading to our destination, we landed at Campo de Marte. As the plane was still moving on the runway, I removed the beacon and got off while my allies continue their way to our hideout. I escaped into another aircraft and brought the beacon with me all the way here, so that I can eliminate all of my enemies personally, including you."

"So you guys did get away with the serum in the end." Rin said.

"Yes. And when I eliminate you all, you will never interrupt Zouken Matou's plans ever again!" Sakura barked.

"Why do you owe your life to Zouken Matou?! What has he done for you?!" Rin shouted.

"You know nothing about Zouken Matou! You guys think he is a monster…" Sakura's eyes softened as she lowers her head and places her hand on her chest. "But he saved me."

Rin's eyes widened for a moment. "How did he?! How can someone like him save a life?" She cried.

"It was back in California." Sakura explained as she clenches her hand on her chest into a fist. "I was in a car crash. I was in so much pain that I could have died back then. But before I passed out, I saw someone walking up to me. And when I woke up, I saw him. Zouken Matou, standing above me. He saved my life, by injecting a serum inside me to heal my injuries and keep me alive."

"Serum?" Rin gazed at Sakura in shock. "Don't tell me he injected the Od serum in you?!"

"He did." Sakura replied coldly.

"No…" Rin uttered as sweat rolled down the side of her head. Sakura looks back up at Rin with a grimace of disgust, outraged that someone like her would think her savior is a monster.

"Zouken Matou is a hero. He created the Od serum to heal people and save lives. And anyone who plans to stop him from saving innocent human lives is insane!" Sakura shouted.

"You're wrong!" Rin yelled back furiously. "He isn't saving lives! He's turning human beings into tools! To become living weapons, having their minds controlled by others! One of my friends had experienced it personally!"

"LIES!" Sakura snarled, swiping her hand across her face as strands of hair fall in front of her ferocious eyes. "If you are against Matou Industries…then you and your allies must be eliminated." She draws out her knives, preparing for battle.

"Sakura…I do not want to fight you." Rin's brows furrowed as she gets into a fighter's stance. "But I will if you hurt my friends."

"That's it!" Sakura snapped. "Fight like you mean it!" With an agonizing scream, she charged over to Rin.

Sakura makes the first strike by swinging her left arm diagonally with her knife at Rin. Rin dodges the attack by sliding to the side. This allows her to jab her hand sharply at the side of Sakura's neck. Sakura growls as she recovers from the blow and swings her left knife again, leaving a horizontal cut on Rin's shirt.

Rin yelps as she backs away. She glances at the cut Sakura left on her chest before looking back up to see her jumping in the air and preparing to deliver an overhead strike at her with her right knife. Rin rolls over, letting Sakura land on the ground with her knife stabbed through the dirt. As soon as Rin turned, she gets up and delivers a powerful punch across Sakura's left cheek. After recovering from the blow, Sakura briefly turns her head back before Rin gave a hard kick on her stomach and a punch directly onto her gut. As Sakura bends over, Rin delivers an uppercut with her right fist underneath her chin, causing her to stumble backwards. Rin grabs Sakura's collar and pulls back her right fist. Sakura briefly turns her head away to spit some blood onto the ground.

"Do it." Sakura said flatly as she turns back to Rin with an ugly scowl.

Rin glares back at Sakura for a moment before lowering her fist and releasing her collar. "No. You're my sister." She said.

"And you are a fool!" Sakura responded with a diagonal swing of her right knife. Rin jumps away from the blade in time. But Sakura quickly twirls about and delivers a powerful kick to Rin's stomach, sending her sprawling through the ground. Seeing her enemy on the ground, Sakura swings her knives in the air and charged at Rin again, taking the opportunity to finish her off while she is down. But it came to a halt when a gunshot is made.

_**BANG!** _

Sakura cried in pain as a bullet shot into her right upper arm. As Sakura clutches her arm, she and Rin swiftly turn their heads to see Saber standing nearby with her Glock 17 pistols raised up.

"Stay the fuck away from her!" Saber shouted at Sakura. Ricky comes out from behind a tree and fires his revolver at Sakura. Sakura deflects the bullet by swiftly swinging her left knife. But this allowed Saber to fire another bullet at Sakura, this time going through the left side of her abdomen.

Sakura yells in pain as she bends over. This was quickly followed by Chulainn running up to Sakura and delivers a powerful punch directly into her face. Sakura finds herself sliding through the ground on her back. As she quickly jumps back up and lands on her feet, she looks up to see Illya aiming her minigun at her with a grin.

As Illya began firing, Sakura quickly runs off to her right to dodge the rain of bullets. But after running for only a few metres, Yukari comes out from behind a tree and delivers a punch across her right cheek, making Sakura roll over through the ground like a tumbleweed.

She gets up from the ground and whirled about, seeing Shirou helping Rin get up from the ground. Yukari, Saber, Ricky, Chulainn and Illya stood in front of them and the latter four aim their guns at Sakura.

Sakura gave one final growl before taking out a smoke grenade from underneath her dress. Saber and Ricky are about to pull the triggers of their guns but they got distracted by Rin's yell, "STOP!"

Saber and Ricky turn their attention to Rin, allowing Sakura to toss her smoke grenade onto the ground. Huge amounts of thick smoke quickly consume the area, causing everyone in the perimeter to cough. Saber and Ricky quickly turn back to their front and fire their guns repeatedly. When the smoke is cleared however, Sakura was nowhere in sight and there wasn't a trail to indicate which direction she had ran off to as there were no drops of blood splattered on the ground.

"Tch." Saber snorted before turning back to Rin. "Rider! Why did you-"

Saber lowered her tone as soon as Illya grabs her arm. She turns to her teammate and upon seeing the sad frown on Illya's face, Saber's anger instantly vanished.

"Boss, we'll explain everything." Illya said. Chulainn nods his head. Saber turns back to Rin who lowers her head and began weeping. Yukari and Shirou place their hands on Rin's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her.

Saber blows out a sigh. She and Ricky lower their guns as they stare at Rin sympathetically.

* * *

_**Ushuaia, Argentina** _

Inside a bar located in this small city at the southernmost tip of Argentina, people are spending their time away by enjoying their drinks and conversing with each other. After hours of working in the port and on their fishing boats, the workers and fishermen feel that they deserve a much needed break.

But their time of leisure and enjoyment is interrupted when the door to the bar opened. Everyone turn to the entrance. To their bewilderment, they see Sakura in a now torn and tattered dress walking slowly into the bar. Long before entering the bar, Sakura had removed the bullets inside her body, allowing her wounds to heal up and cleaned off the blood from her skin, leaving the patrons to wonder how she got her dress torn in the first place.

Sakura casually walks over to the bar counter, grabs a chair and sat down in front of the bartender.

Resisting himself from letting a low curse when taking a closer look at Sakura's predicament, the bartender asked, "D-d-do you need help, ma'am?"

Sakura looks up at the bartender and places a dime on the table. "I just need a cup of water, and a payphone."

* * *

_**2 Years Ago…** _

_**Los Angeles, California, United States** _

Rin finds herself standing in front of three tombstones, two of them belonging to her father and sister. But now, there is a new addition, placed between both tombstones that belonged to Tokiomi and Sakura. The words that were engraved on it were as written:

_Always a loving wife and mother_

_Aoi Tohsaka-Phillips_

_1974-2015_

Rin kneels down and gently placed a fresh rose in front of Aoi's tombstone. She stood up and gazed at the tombstone and spoke in a soft and cold tone, "Goodbye mother. I hope you'll find peace now that you are reunited with father and Sakura." She took a deep breath and wipes off the fresh tears that were forming at the sides of her eyes. "And you don't have to apologize for leaving me behind, for I still have unfinished business to do before I could join you all." She glances at the tombstones of her father and sister before turning back to her mother's. "I promise you all one thing…one thing that I will fulfill before my last breath…" Her brows furrowed and her hands curled up into tight fists. "I will make Matou Industries pay for what they did to all of us." After giving a solemn bow to the tombstones, Rin whirls about and makes her way out of the graveyard.

A minute later, she arrives at the side of the road where a Cadillac Escalade SUV is parked. Standing beside the vehicle is a woman, dressed in a black suit and her long blonde hair tied to a ponytail.

"Are you ready?" Saber asked with her arms folded.

Rin nods her head. "I've finished mourning the people I loved. Now, it's time for me to deliver them what they deserve. Justice."

Saber extends out her hand to Rin. "Welcome to the team…Rider."

Without a word, Rin grabs Saber's hand and shakes it.

* * *

That night, everybody returned back to their yacht where Illya, Chulainn, Rin and Shirou explain to the others about Sakura. Saber, Ricky and Yukari were surprised to learn that Sakura is Rin's sister and had been injected with the Od serum. They vowed to her that they will find a way to save her sister from Zouken, but Rin felt hopeless over the situation. Although she suffered less physical injuries than Shirou and Illya, the emotional ones she carried were every bit as bad. Sakura is a sister. She is the closest person in her life, but she is now under Zouken's influence and it will be hard to get her out of his control, especially when she believes that he is the man who saved her life, which Rin refuses to believe.

Rin sat at the deck of the yacht throughout the night. Because she isn't the mood to drive them out of the area, Saber decided that they can remain at the beach until tomorrow morning. She sat there staring at the sky for hours and even when she felt hungry, she refuses to return back inside to have dinner. Eventually, someone came out to the exterior of the yacht to check up on her.

"Rin?"

Rin turns her head to see Shirou walking up to her with a cup of noodles and a pair of wooden chopsticks in his hand. His stab wound had been stitched up by Illya and his entire left shoulder is now covered up with bandages.

"How are you holding up?" Shirou asked in concern.

"What do you think?" Rin replied dully. Shirou sat beside her and hands her the cup of noodles.

"You should eat something." Shirou coaxed warmly with a weak smile. "By the way, this is our dinner tonight. I can't work up any actual meals for us because of my injury, so we ate cup noodles instead. You should see the annoyed look on Illya's face when she realized we're eating something so light tonight." He laughed as Rin quietly takes the cup of noodles and chopsticks from him.

Shirou watched quietly as Rin slurps her noodles. He sighed and said to her, "Rin, I know you're upset that your sister is under Zouken Matou's control right now. But we promise you that we'll do everything we can to save her."

"What if we can't?" Rin asked in a strained voice as she placed her food and chopsticks aside.

"Ricky said that the girl he met at the train in Russia was also under the influence of the Od serum, just like Sakura. But she was able to break free of it. If she can do it, I'm sure your sister will too." Shirou assured.

"But Sakura had been under the influence longer than that child." Rin said, staring back at him with hopeless eyes. "What if for her, it's irreversible?" She made a sniff and Shirou noticed tears are starting to form in her eyes. Rin turns her head away and stares at the floor. She wipes off the tears, but new ones quickly form inside her eyes shortly afterwards. "W-why…why did it have to be her?" She managed to croak before burying her face in her hands.

As Rin became inconsolable with grief, Shirou wraps his arm around her. He rubs her shoulder as she sobbed and trembled. Shirou is fully aware that Sakura and her parents were foundations of her life. Her parents are gone and her sister, the only person who is still alive, is now a living weapon under Zouken's control. If what Rin believes turn out to be true, that it is completely irreversible to get her out of the serum's influence, they may be forced to kill her. And by killing her, Rin would lose the last person in her life who helped fill the gaps in her heart and perception of reality.

Shirou boldly looks back at Rin, who is still crying her heart out in despair. "We'll save her. I promise."


	18. Alofi

_**Alofi, Niue** _

Illya laughed cheerfully as she dashes through the beach while dressed in a light purple swimsuit. When she reached the edge of the water, she whirls about and waves her hand.

"Come on slowpokes! The water looks great!" Illya yelled out to her friends.

It has been four days since their last mission in Argentina and the group is currently in the small island nation of Niue. Rin is still trying to recover from the personal trauma she had from the encounter with her sister, so Saber decided that it would be the perfect time for everyone to have a break, especially since it's been a long time they had actually take a vacation as a group.

They decided to go to the small and remote island of Niue located in the South Pacific Ocean. Due to its small size and population, as well as its remoteness from larger and more populated nations, the island is a perfect place for them to relax and lay low at the same time. The beach they are currently at is a small stretch of coast with no other people around. But there is still plenty of sand and the view of the ocean is wide and beautiful.

Chulainn and Rin approach Illya as they are wearing a pair of blue swim shorts and a red swimsuit respectively.

"Take it easy, Illya. The others are still changing." Chulainn replied as he folds his arms.

Rin takes a deep breath and a wide smile plasters across her face as she places her hands at the sides of her hip. "I'm glad there aren't any other people around. This beach may be small but we have the entire place for ourselves." She said blissfully.

"Come to think of it, I can't remember when it's the last time we ever entered and used a beach for relaxation. Most other times are like storming through Normandy." Chulainn remarked.

"We're here." Chulainn and Rin turn around upon hearing Ricky's voice. They and Illya see Ricky and Shirou walking over to them in their swimming attire. Ricky is dressed in an opened-up white jacket and a pair of red swim shorts while Shirou wears a pair of black swim shorts. Ricky's hair is also tied up to a small and messy ponytail, showing off his right eye.

"Looking good, you two." Illya said smiling as she places her hands behind her back.

"Don't start the fun without us." Ricky said with a small smirk.

"Where's the ball?" Chulainn asked the two men.

"Oh the boss has it." Ricky replied, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder. "She's still back in the village."

Shirou turns his head and asked, "Say, where's Yukari? I thought she's behind us."

Ricky whirled about and looked around. It only took a few seconds for him to spot Yukari's feet sticking out from behind a rock. He lets out a sigh and calls out to her, "Come on out Yukari. I know you're there."

Yukari nervously gets up from the sand and walks out of her hiding spot. As Yukari approached them, everyone present in the beach curiously stares at her as she wraps her body up with a large white towel.

"You know you can't enjoy the sand and sea with that around you, right?" Illya said to Yukari with her arms folded.

"Come on Yukari, there's no need to be shy." Rin said with a playful grin as she leans forward.

Yukari lets out a sigh before finally removing her towel. Everyone widen their eyes and drop their jaws as Yukari drops her towel onto the sand, revealing that she is dressed in a light blue bikini top.

"I look stupid, don't I?" Yukari asked nervously as she rubs her left arm and her cheeks blushed.

"Are you kidding me? You look great!" Illya cried as a huge smile takes form on her face.

"Yeah, you're beautiful." Ricky commented, slowly nodding his head with his eyes wide.

"Gorgeous." Shirou simply said, trying to contain himself as his cheeks blushed crimson.

Rin turns her head and sees Chulainn gawking at Yukari with his jaw opened. Rin laughed as she walks over to him and gave him a hard punch in the gut. Chulainn groans as he leans over while Rin wraps an arm around his neck. "I see your opinion on Yukari had skyrocketed, huh?" She asked Chulainn with a devilish grin.

"You guys think so? I was planning on buying a normal swimsuit that covers up my entire body with the money Saber had given me, but she insisted me to buy a bikini top instead. Even though I don't think my body is slim." Yukari explained.

"So you're brave to confront me in not killing a serial killer, but too scared to show your body? Most illogical." Yukari turned to see Saber walking over to her, with a yellow and blue beach ball wrapped under her left arm, a wrapped-up volleyball net in her right hand and a smirk on her face. The leader is currently dressed in a white swimsuit and her hair is tied to a bun with a blue ribbon.

Saber turns to the rest of her team and asked, "Are you guys ready to have fun?"

"Aye!" Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Chulainn and Illya all replied in unison.

Ricky flashes a smirk at Saber, who responded to him with a soft, tender smile. She drops the net onto the sand and looks up as she tosses the ball into the air. "Then let's go!" She yelled before throwing her arm down and slamming the ball towards the rest of the team.

* * *

For the next few hours, Saber and her team basically enjoy spending their time away by either playing or relaxing at the beach.

Illya and Rin are in the sea, standing about thirty feet away from the shore, with their lower bodies submerged in the water. They laugh as they playfully splash water at each other.

"Come on Illya. Is this all the microgun-wielding member of the team can do?" Rin laughed as she continuously swings her arms horizontally under the water, splashing huge amounts of water at Illya.

Illya growled and shouted, "I'LL SHOW YOU!" She extends her hands under the water and delivers a strong push, creating a big surge of water towards Rin.

"EEEKK!" Rin squealed as she covers her eyelids and turns her head away before the water splashes onto her. When she opens her eyes again and turn back to the front however, Illya was nowhere in sight.

"Huh? Where are you?" Rin uttered as she looked around. Suddenly, Illya comes out from the water behind Rin and proceeds to tickle her ribs relentlessly.

"HAHAHAHA! I caught ya!" illya yelled triumphantly as Rin wriggled helplessly and laughing hysterically.

"AH! STOP IT! STOP IT!" Rin laughed and pleaded as tears form in her eyes.

On the shore, Saber and Yukari are playing volleyball. For a few seconds, the two women narrow their eyes at each other. Saber tosses the beach ball into the air. She jumps up and delivers a hard slam on the ball.

Yukari swiftly runs over to where the ball is about to fly over. As the ball plummets through the air, Yukari quickly uses both hands to deflect it.

As the balls flies back to Saber's side, the leader chose to run over to the net. She jumps up and slaps the ball back to Yukari's side, sending it flying through the air diagonally.

However, Yukari plunges to her right. She lands onto the sand and hits the ball with her right hand, sending it flying high into the air. Saber gasps as the ball heads back to her side. She turns around and runs over to where the ball is about to land and barely deflects it in time.

Unfortunately, while Saber was distracted, this allows Yukari to quickly get back up and run over to the net. She jumps up in time to slam the ball back to Saber's side. The ball lands onto the sand in front of Saber, causing her to sigh in defeat as she bends over and places her hands on her knees. Yukari cheered as she pumps her fists into the air.

"You really are full of surprises, Caster." Saber said to Yukari wearily.

Yukari smiled at her boss as she places her hands on the sides of her hip. "Never underestimate a former high school volleyball player."

Ricky and Shirou were watching the two women play as they sat on a mat nearby while eating their hot dogs which the latter made before going out to the beach.

"They sure are having a lot of fun." Ricky commented before taking a bite of his hot dog.

"And getting along well too." Shirou added. "Isn't that right, Chu-"

Ricky and Shirou turn their heads to see Chulainn lying on his mat and snoring with his eyes closed. His left hand is placed on his chest and his right arm is splayed at the side.

"Typical." Shirou smiled sheepishly.

A mischievous grin appears on Ricky's face. Shirou watched in confusion as Ricky grabs a hot dog from the platter, gets up and sneakily walks over to his sleeping teammate. He quietly kneels down at Chulainn's side and gently places the hot dog on his open right hand. He grabs a nearby stick from the sand and holds it above Chulainn's face. He uses the stick to twitch his nose, causing Chulainn to groan and furrow his brows. After a few more twitches, Chulainn growls in frustration as he lifts his hand up and squashes the hot dog and its contents onto his face.

Ricky laughed as he tosses the stick away and hurriedly runs off. After opening his eyelids and realizing that there is food and sauce splattered all over his face and hand, he jolts up from the ground and bellowed as the sausage and loaves of bread fall off from his forehead,

"RRRRRIIIIIICCCCCCKKKKKKYYYYYY!"

* * *

Later that night, Ricky, Saber, Rin, Illya, Chulainn and Yukari sat together on the shore and around their campfire. Shirou walks over to them while carrying a plastic bag. He placed the bag on the sand beside Ricky and opens it, revealing several cans of beer which he bought from the village of Alofi. Everyone pass a can of beer to each other and open up the lids. As Shirou sat next to Ricky, Saber raises her can into the air.

"Cheers." Saber said.

"Cheers!" The others responded in unison as they raise their cans up as well. Everyone lower their cans and gulp down their beer.

After putting down their cans, Yukari turns to her teammates and said, "I can't believe it's already been 6 months since I joined up with all of you."

"And many things sure have happened to us within that time." Chulainn said, nodding his head in agreement.

Illya folds her legs Indian-style and turns to Yukari and Chulainn. "We shut down Matou Industries' headquarters, yet their boss is still out there, accelerating his plans." She uttered.

Rin lifts her head up and stare at the night sky. "They're still out, harming so many innocent people as we speak…even Sakura." She narrows her eyes when she mentions her sister.

Saber places her hand firmly on Rin's shoulder. "We're not going to give up. We'll keep fighting until every single trace of them and their serum is erased from existence."

"During my mission in Russia, I was traumatized by what happened to Reika and Jack…and honestly scared of dying back there." Ricky lowers his head and his eyes were concealed under the shadows. "Because I thought I would never see my mother or any of you guys ever again. I'll never forgive Matou Industries for what they did to Reika, Jack and me." He looks back up at his teammates with his eyes narrowed. "And that's why I want to fight harder."

Shirou nods his head and added, "Let us keep fighting and take Matou Industries down for good. And we'll do it together, as a team." Ricky, Saber, Rin, Chulainn, Illya and Yukari look at Shirou and nod their heads back.

"Guys, I have something to say." Yukari spoke up.

"What is it?" Saber asked as she and her teammates turn to her.

"I'm sorry." Yukari said apologetically with her head lowered.

"What for?" Chulainn asked dumbfounded.

Yukari looks back up at them and continued, "When I first met you, I thought all of you were crooks…thugs…scums…But then you all comforted me when I realized my former boss treated me as a tool all along. After that, you guys accepted me into your group despite my inexperience in combat. And as time goes on, I realized that despite your profession, all of you are in some ways still humane. You guys are like a family and treated me as if I'm a part of it." A huge smile plasters across Yukari's face. "So in all honesty…" She folds her legs Indian-style, places her hands on her knees and bows her head down to her teammates. "Arigatou."

Shirou, Ricky, Saber, Rin, Illya and Chulainn smile warmly at Yukari as their eyes softened.

"You're welcome, Yukari." Chulainn replied.

"Bitte schön!" Illya said cheerfully.

The leader lets out a sigh and said to Yukari, "Yukari, I owe you my thanks and apology as well."

Yukari sat up straight and looks back at Saber. "Why?" She inquired.

"I always thought the only punishment the worst criminals deserve is death. If they commit the most heinous crimes, including abuse, kidnapping and murder, they've proven to me that they are the worst kind of human beings ever, and I'll never hesitate to kill them. That is until you came along. You stopped me from killing Medea in France, which was something I didn't like back then. But when we faced another horrible criminal in Australia for our next mission, I chose to keep him alive and hand him to the authorities…" Saber paused as she gazes at the campfire. "And the outcome made me realized how much more rewarding it was to keep a criminal alive rather than killing them. We took a major step in taking down Matou Industries and expose their plans to the whole world. And looking back, if I had killed Ryunosuke, we never would have made Matou Industries go into hiding. The fight isn't over, but we made a lot of progress because of it."

"I used to think killing criminals is justifiable too." Shirou uttered before turning to Yukari and flashes a smirk at her. "That is until a certain woman came into our lives to make me realize that it was my past that had clouded my judgment, to do what's really right."

"Ever since Yukari join us; we have all changed, didn't we?" Ricky implied.

Saber places her hand on her second-in-command's shoulder and uttered, "I guess so." She removes her gaze from the campfire and turns her head to Yukari, "Yukari, I'm sorry I was hostile towards you before. And for everything that you have contributed to this team until now, thank you. And I mean it."

Yukari smiled warmly at Saber and bows her head again, "You're welcome."

"I take back what I said about us being a team." Shirou said. Everyone stare at him in confusion. "Because we're more than that. We're a family."

"Family…" Rin uttered as she pushes a strand of hair away from her eyes. Her lips take the form of a huge smile as she turns to Shirou. "I like that."

Ricky lets out a heavy sigh. "Family…I never felt what it's like to be in one…ever since my father died…" He proceeds to rub his eyes while Saber gave a gentle pat on his back.

Saber turns her head to all of her teammates before holding up her can of beer into the air once more. "To us. In continuing our fight in bringing justice to every scumbag in the world."

"To us!" Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Illya and Chulainn cried as they raise their cans up along with their leader.

Yukari chuckled before holding up her can as well. "To us." She said before they all take another gulp of their drinks.

* * *

Saber and her team spent the next hour conversing and enjoying each other's company. Before they even knew it, their campfire has gone out and that is when they decided to return back to their yacht.

They pick up their beach ball, mat and towel and make their way back to the village where they had changed into their swimming attire before. Chulainn uses the torchlight of his smartphone to light up the area as they walk their way through the small forest that stood between the beach and the settlement.

"I hope you all enjoyed the break because once we get back to the boat, we need to continue our search for Zouken Matou's hideout." Saber said to her team.

"I really enjoy what we did today." Yukari commented.

"Yup." Illya nodded in agreement. "No fighting. No masked men with guns. No bullets flying over our heads. It was fun while it lasted."

"Yeah, we do need to have breaks like this every once in a while." Rin said, smiling blissfully.

"I agree." Shirou smiled as well as he and Rin hold each other's hands.

"So Ricky, if we're family, does that makes me your older brother?" Chulainn asked Ricky with a lopsided grin.

"Not in a million years, fuckface." Ricky responded dully as he removes his headband, letting his shoulder-length hair flow down freely and strands dangled in front of his right eye. Chulainn and Saber laughed in response. "What?! You think that's funny, boss?" He asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Well I-" Before Saber could reply however, her smartphone rang. She looks at the screen and sees that she had received a message. She widens her eyes and gave a small gasp.

"What's wrong?" Ricky asked in concern.

"Nothing." Saber shakes her head as she puts her phone away. "You guys go on ahead. I got something important to do." Before her teammates could even say something, Saber whirled about and walks off in the opposite direction.

"Umm, what important things do people usually do in a forest?" Chulainn asked, raising an eyebrow.

After walking several feet away from the group, Saber turned around for a moment to make sure she wasn't followed. After confirming no one else is around her, she gets out her phone and looks at her newly-received message again.

**King: Hi sweetie.**

Saber narrows her eyes. She unlocks her phone and replies to the message.

_Saber: What do you want?_

A few seconds later, she received a response.

**King: I heard you're having trouble finding Zouken Matou. Do you need help?**

Saber quickly replied and she soon finds herself engaged in the conversation.

_Saber: I'm sure I can handle myself. My boss and his assistant are also working on it._

**King: And how long do you think you and your friends are going to take in tracking him down? Don't you want to take Matou down ASAP?**

_Saber: I love to but I think we can do it ourselves. How did you even got hold of this number?_

**King: I told you before, sweetie. I'll always find you. I also know that your last mission in Argentina didn't end so well.**

Saber widens her eyes with her mouth agape. She frowned again a few seconds later and replied,

_Saber: How did you know?_

**King: Doesn't matter. The point is, are you really sure you can handle yourself after that spectacular failure in Argentina? Still the same hot-headed babe I know.**

_Saber: So you're suggesting that I should just listen to you._

**King: That's why I'm here, baby.**   **I don't know where exactly Matou is hiding either but I got the location of one of their factories, run by one of his lieutenants. I'm sure you and your team will have no problem at all bursting into that building to get the information on where he is hiding. So what do you say? Do you want to know where you can find yourself a lead in discovering Matou's hideout? Or you can continue spending a few more weeks, even months for you and your boss to track them down which I'm sure by then, Matou Industries would have already finished making preparations for their ultimate plan. If you reject my offer of help, you won't hear me again in a while. Are you sure you want that? Make your choice.**

Saber glares at her phone for an entire minute. She hates to admit it but he is right. She desperately wants to stop Matou Industries right now before they unleash their plan. He is offering her a chance to go where they can get information on Zouken's hideout. If she were to reject him, she will never have an opportunity like this again. Saber lets out a sigh and replied,

_Saber: Where?_

A few seconds later, she got her answer.

**King: Book yourself a ticket to Japan. One of Matou's lieutenants, Hassan-i-Sabbah, has been doing some very interesting shit in** **Shibuya** **. Check it out for yourself. Enjoy! ;)**

Saber cursed under her breath before putting away her smartphone. She turns her head and sees a large coconut crab hanging and resting on the trunk of a tree beside her. She stared solemnly at the coconut crab for a moment before turning around to regroup with her team.


	19. Tokyo, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains spoilers to _Mad Max: Fury Road_ , if you haven't seen that film yet. Other than that, enjoy!

Everyone changed back into their usual clothes at the village before heading back to their yacht. Upon returning and after making sure her teammates have gone to their rooms, Saber heads into her office and sat behind her desk. She gets out her laptop and contacted Maiya. She requested her to look for information on Hassan-i-Sabbah and within minutes, Maiya came back with what she desired.

"Hassan-i-Sabbah is a former Middle Eastern soldier." Maiya explained to Saber as a portrait of a bald man, wearing a white mask to conceal his face, appears at the bottom left corner of the screen. "Not much is known about him except he quit the military at one point and turned into a mercenary. He is wanted in China, Pakistan and several Middle East countries."

"Tch. Another elusive criminal, which makes him the perfect employee for Zouken Matou." Saber said, gazing at the screen of her laptop.

"Zouken Matou?" Maiya asked.

"Aye." Saber nodded. "I heard rumors that he is now hired by Matou Industries to manage a factory in Shibuya, Japan."

"Where do you get those rumors?" Maiya inquired.

"Let's just say I've been doing some investigation on my own." Saber replied calmly without giving a look of hesitation.

"Very well." Maiya nods her head. "Are you and your team planning to take down Hassan in Shibuya?"

"If we do, we may finally find out where Zouken Matou is hiding." Saber said solemnly.

"Alright, I'll inform Kiritsugu about this. Good luck." Maiya said before the screen turns black.

* * *

_**20 Hours Later…** _

_**Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan** _

It was 9 pm when Saber and her team arrived at their destination via Tokyo's railway system. Shortly after departing from Shibuya Station, Ricky, Illya, Chulainn and Rin look around the city in awe and amusement. Shibuya is one of the liveliest and busiest wards in Tokyo. The huge billboards and television screens placed above and on the tall buildings illuminate the streets which are bustled with thousands of people.

As they stood at the side of Shibuya crossing, Illya exclaimed with her eyes widened and her arms spread out, "This place is amazing!"

"Tokyo sure is beautiful, isn't it?" Shirou smiled with his hands on the sides of his hip.

"Indeed." Rin replied in agreement. "Despite my ethnicity, I've never set foot in Japan until now."

"Aw man! I sure can't wait to try out the sake, shochu, sushi, teriyaki balls, ramen noodles and a whole bunch of other yummy goodies! Sure Shirou can make of those back in the yacht but it's still better to try them in their native land." Chulainn said enthusiastically.

"Never knew you're quite the otaku, Lancer." Ricky said dully.

"Ota-wha?" Chulainn said puzzled as the cars came to a halt and the pedestrian light turn green.

"I never thought I would ever come back to Tokyo one day." Yukari said grimly as they began crossing the road. "I used to love this city when I relocated here after the destruction of Itomori. I always thought this city is filled with life and joy. But now to me, it's nothing but a place filled with soured memories."

"You still couldn't get over your firing here as a teacher, don't you?" Saber asked with her hands stuffed in her pockets.

Yukari nods her head. "I guess so."

"Yukari-chan?!"

The team stopped at their tracks and whirled about. Upon finding the source of the voice, Yukari widens her eyes in surprise as she came face-to-face with a familiar figure from her past. The person is a woman in her late 20s with short light brown hair and eyes. She is dressed in a green dress with a yellow and black striped shirt underneath it and a pair of white shoes.

Upon seeing the woman, many nostalgic memories came flooding back to Yukari's mind. It took a few seconds before Yukari finally regain control of her vocal cords to utter the name of the person, "F-F-Fujimura-san?"

Taiga Fujimura lets out a huge gasp as she holds up her hands in front of her mouth and her eyes became as wide as saucers. She wailed loudly as she spreads out her arms and runs over to her friend, completely ignoring the confused and dumbfounded looks from the passers-by, "YUKARI-CHAN!"

Yukari winced as Taiga gave her a tight and bone-crushing embrace. "H-hey Taiga, i-i-it's been a while." Yukari struggled to speak.

"Yukari-chaaaaaaaannnn…" Taiga wailed as she rests her head on Yukari's shoulder. Tears of joy rapidly pour out from her eyes like tiny waterfalls. "I miss you sooooooo muuuucccchhhh!"

"Y-y-yeah, I…miss you too." Yukari weakly responded as Taiga is still clinging her tightly. Saber and the rest of her team stood idly as they watch the display in confusion.

"I can definitely assume she must be a very close friend to Caster." Illya said.

"Very, very close, I must say." Ricky said with an arched eyebrow.

Yukari lets out a sigh of relief when Taiga finally released her. Taiga turns her head to Saber and her team and asked her friend, "Sooooo, are these your friends?"

"Yes they are." Yukari replied. She turns to her teammates and introduces Taiga to them, "Guys, this is Taiga Fujimura. She's my friend and a fellow teacher when I was at Shinjuku High School."

"Konichiwa!" Taiga greeted as she places her left hand on the side of her hip and uses her other hand to give a salute to Saber and her team.

"Konichiwa." Shirou replied as he waves his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Fujimura." Saber responded with a nod.

Taiga gasped before going over to Saber and examines her hair and facial features. Saber stares back at her dumbfounded as Taiga grabs her hand and shakes it frantically. "Oh my, you're a westerner! That's so cool! I love westerners! Where are you from?! France? Germany? America?"

"Umm, England." Saber replied.

"Oh, England! The land of cricket and toffees! Cheers, lad! Hohoho!" Taiga laughed. Saber chuckled nervously in response.

"That's great, Saber. We're only an hour in this country and you already got yourself a fan." Ricky teased. Saber grumbles as she gave Ricky an annoyed glare.

Taiga goes over to Ricky, Chulainn, Illya, Rin and Shirou to shake their hands as well, giving them a different greeting as she does. "Nice to meet you! Oh my, you're tall and muscular! Aww, you're so cute! My, you look gorgeous! Konichiwa!"

After she finished greeting Yukari's teammates, Taiga inquired, "So um, what are your names?"

Saber, Ricky, Chulainn, Illya, Rin and Shirou turn to each other for a moment. They know they can't give Taiga their real names so they will have to introduce themselves by their code names.

"My name is Saber." Saber introduced herself.

"Assassin." Ricky said, giving a solemn nod.

"Lancer." Chulainn said.

"Berserker." Illya said as she gave a peace sign.

"Rider." Rin said.

"Archer." Shirou said as he bows to Taiga.

"Really? Those are your names?" Taiga asked, staring at them bewilderedly.

"Yeah, we usually play this game we made up called  _'Grand Order'_." Yukari explained to her friend.

"What?" Ricky said incredulously as he, Saber, Chulainn, Illya, Rin and Shirou stare at Yukari dumbfounded.

"We like to imagine this world we're living in is a JRPG-like fantasy world and we take roles of several classes ranging from an assassin to an archer. My code name for example is Caster because I like to imagine myself as a mage."

"Oooooohhhhhh…" Taiga said, gawking at her friend. Suddenly, she laughed enthusiastically, much to the surprise of Saber and her team. "Awww, that is so cute! Imagining that we're living in a fantasy world? Calling each other by code names? That sounds like so much fun! We're living in a JRPG? Woohoo!"

Saber, Ricky, Chulainn, Illya, Rin and Shirou stare blankly at Taiga in complete and utter disbelief.

"She's very easily persuaded." Rin said incredulously.

"How she even become a teacher is beyond me." Chulainn murmured.

"Ahahahahahaha!" After Taiga finished laughing her heart out, she takes a deep breath and asked Yukari, "So how have you been, Yukari-chan? What have you been doing ever since you left Shinjuku High?"

"Oh well, I've…been doing a lot of stuff." Yukari answered.

Suddenly, Taiga clings onto Yukari's left arm and smirked, "Tell me all about it. I know a very nice place to hang out here in Shibuya. Let's go!"

"Do we really have time for this?" Saber muttered with a grimace.

"Come on, what choice do we have? Caster is with a friend now. If we don't want to expose our purpose of being here, we'll just have to play along for now." Ricky whispered to her.

Saber lets out a heavy sigh as she reluctantly agreed with him. "Mind if we come along?" She asked Taiga.

"Oh sure, of course! The more, the merrier! I would love to know all about you guys anyways! Let's go!" Taiga gestured everyone to follow her. They quickly cross the road right before the pedestrian light turns red.

* * *

Saber and her team look around the nightclub where Taiga had taken them. The room is huge and filled with many young adults, spending their night away by dancing and drinking. At the north side of the large room is a bar counter, where a bartender is standing behind it, serving drinks to the patrons who are sitting and standing in front of him. Both sides of the room have tables lined up horizontally. Patrons are sitting at the tables having their drinks and conversing with each other. In the center of the place is a dancing floor. Lights of various colors illuminate the floor tiles as several people smile and cheer as they dance. At the east side is a DJ managing the turntable and sound mixer.

Taiga spotted a vacant table at the southeast corner of the room. She pulled Yukari's arm as they rush over to the table. Saber and the others followed them and sat along with the two friends. When everyone had sat down, Taiga asked them what drinks they wanted before heading to the bar counter and order. A few minutes later, Taiga returned to them with a tray containing seven glasses of alcohol. After gently setting the tray on the table, Taiga sat beside Yukari and everyone grab their drinks.

As they drink, Taiga began conversing with Yukari and her teammates. They explain to her that after Yukari's departure from Shinjuku High School, she and her new friends have travelled around the world together. Of course they never tell her about their true profession and purpose in going those countries, so Yukari, being the creative former literature teacher that she is, adapt the actual events of their missions into something more amusing and less violent for Taiga, such as learning art in France and taking photographs of nature and animals in the southernmost parts of Argentina.

"Really?! You and your friends went to the Great Sandy Desert in Australia to play off-road racing?! That's so cool!" Taiga cried enthusiastically.

"I know! It was Saber's idea and it was as if we were reenacting a scene from Mad Max: Fury Road!" Yukari laughed along with Taiga as she strokes her hair. Saber groans and rolls her eyes as she laid back on her seat.

Chulainn, who is becoming drunk under the influence of the sake he had drink, describe their 'adventure' in Western Australia further, "Hell yeah it was full-blown Mad Max: Fury Road when all of us had to lined up vertically to drive through a narrow ditch between two canyons!"

Taiga gasps and widens her eyes in awe. "That…is…AWESOME!" She shouted as she slaps her thigh. The patrons sitting at the table beside them glance at Taiga and the others with annoyance and bewilderment before going back to their own business. "And I bet by the end of the race, you guys arrived at the Citadel and welcomed by thousands of people!"

Yukari rolls her eyes to the side, thinking that the part where they bring Uryu and the kidnapped boys to the authorities is somewhat similar to the ending of the film. "Kinda." She said as a lopsided grin appears on her face. Yukari, Taiga, Ricky, Rin, Shirou, Illya and Chulainn all laughed cheerfully while Saber grumbled and shakes her head.

"Wow! It's like after you leave your previous job; you're finally able to take lots of time off to do all the stuff you weren't able to do before! I'm so jealous, Yukari-chan!" Taiga said excitedly with a grin. "One time, I actually bought a ticket for myself to go to Universal Studios Osaka, but I was forced to give it away to one of my students because of scheduling issues with my friends and job." She finished with a dejected sigh.

Yukari puts down her glass of malt whisky on the table and asked Taiga, "Speaking of friends and my previous job, how are Hitomi and Itou doing?"

"Hitomi? She's doing fine. Strict as always, but that's considered normal, right?" Taiga chuckled. But soon after, her smile flips into a worried frown. "As for Itou, I don't know how to say…"

Yukari widens her eyes as her mouth agape. "What happened to him?"

"Don't worry, he's fine. Nothing bad happened. It's just…I know how close you and Itou were, and I still see him as a friend. But…I'm afraid he has moved on."

Yukari's jaw widened, causing Saber and the others to look at her in concern. "What?" Yukari uttered in shock.

Taiga sighed heavily, knowing it is never easy to do this. "After you leave Shinjuku, Itou remained silent about you for a while. We still talk to each other from time to time, but eventually, about four months later, he stopped doing so. Then two years ago, he came up to me, saying that he too is planning to leave Shinjuku High. I heard from the others that he moved back to Sapporo and…moved into a new apartment with someone…and later, I was told by someone in school seven months ago that he got married."

Yukari stared wordlessly at Taiga for a whole minute, trying to comprehend what her friend had told her.

"I'm so sorry, Yukari. I…I know…" Before Taiga could continue, Yukari got up from her seat.

"Give me a moment." Yukari said flatly before walking off. Taiga and Yukari's teammates watched as she promptly walks to the restrooms at the northwest corner of the nightclub.

Taiga lowers her head with an apologetic frown, "I'm sorry…"

* * *

Yukari stood at the sink with tears rolling freely down her cheeks. Her sobs periodically echo throughout the women's restroom.

She couldn't believe what Taiga had told her. Ever since she first moved to Tokyo and started working at Shinjuku High, she and Itou immediately fell in love with each other. For a while, she thought they were close and their relationship would always remain warm and tight-knit. Sadly, it was never meant to be. As soon as word about her scandal with a student spread throughout the school premises, Itou felt hurt and heartbroken by the news. He began slowly distancing himself from Yukari and the phone calls between them became fewer. She could painfully remember a moment when during recess, she wanted to ask Itou about having meals together but he quickly left his cubicle and step out of the staffroom before she could approach him. Eventually, the combined pain of dealing with the harassment and negativity towards her after the scandal and the distancing relationship with Itou became too much for her and decided to quit the school and leave Tokyo altogether. She never got a chance to say farewell to Itou as he wasn't present in school on the day she left. She attempted to make several phone calls to Itou after leaving Tokyo, all of them unanswered. Eventually, she ended up making a call with a complete stranger, a clear indication that he had changed numbers. Yukari still held hope that one day Itou would get over what happened and they may reunite and reconcile, but the news of him moving back to Sapporo and getting married finally put it to rest.

Yukari wipes off the tears from her eyes and cheeks. She looks up at her reflection in the mirror with puffy red eyes. She can't imagine how her return to Tokyo could get any worse.

Suddenly, there was a flush and a door behind her opened. A woman, wearing a black long-sleeved jacket with a white shirt underneath it, a black skirt, white socks and black shoes, walks out of the cubicle and approaches the sinks with her head down.

Yukari widens her eyes as the woman walking over to her side look rather familiar. Laying her eyes on the woman's long, wavy brown hair instantly brought back many old memories for Yukari. She turns her head as the woman stood in front of the sink and washed her hands. Feeling that she knows the woman, Yukari uttered a name.

"Aizawa?"

"AAH!" The woman squealed in horror as she looks up at the mirror and backs away from the sink. She swiftly turns her head to see Yukari standing beside her, causing her to widen her eyes in shock.

"Miss Yukino?" Aizawa said incredulously.

Yukari gasped. It is true. The woman beside her is actually her former student, Aizawa. She took a gulp and inquired, "Aizawa, wha-"

"Why the fuck are you doing back in Tokyo, slut?!" Aizawa snapped and stomps her foot, causing Yukari to flinch.

Aizawa snarled as she takes a good look at the strained expression on her former teacher's face. She could see the corners of her eyes are red and her lips flipped downwards to form a grimace of guilt and despair.

"Tch. I see you never changed at all. No wonder why everybody is glad that you left the school. And years after what you did, you have the gall to show yourself again." Aizawa scoffed.

"I…" Yukari tried to speak but Aizawa stepped forward and gave her a cold glare.

"Listen to me, bitch." Aizawa said icily. "Get the fuck out of here. You don't belong here and no one is ever going to care about you, because you are nothing but a fucking hag. Don't ever let me see you again."

With that, Aizawa whirled about and makes her way out of the restroom, bursting the door open as she steps out. When the door closed, silence returned to the restroom, periodically broken by Yukari's sobs.

* * *

Aizawa steps out of the nightclub and walks over to four people waiting for her at the pavement. One of them is a tall and muscular man with short black hair, wearing a plain red t-shirt, black pants and black shoes. The other three were a girl with messy shoulder-length dark brown hair and wears a white headband, a sleeveless dark gray blouse with a white short-sleeved shirt underneath it, black skirt, white stockings and black shoes and two boys, both having short brown hair and wearing plain white collar shirts, black pants and black shoes.

"Yo, what took you so long?" The muscular man in red asked Aizawa.

"Uuuggghhh." Aizawa groans in disgust as she rolls her eyes. "Wataru-chan, you'll never believe who I bumped into inside the restroom."

"Who?"

"That old hag, Miss Yukino."

"Huh? She's back here in Tokyo?" Wataru asked with an arched eyebrow. The others stare at Aizawa in shock.

Aizawa snorted as she folds her arms. "Yeah, don't know what the fuck is she back here for."

"Probably going around the city begging for dimes." The brunette girl jokingly replied. The five friends burst out laughing.

"Yeah, you're probably right Chihiro." Aizawa smirked at her friend as she twirls the right fringe of her wavy, long hair.

"Anyways Aizawa. We better get going. It's about to start soon." Wataru said.

"Hai." Aizawa replied with a nod before the five friends hurriedly walk down the pavement.

* * *

"She never told you what caused her to resign from her previous job, didn't she?" Taiga dejectedly asked Saber and her team as she looked down at her half-emptied glass of beer in her hands.

"What happened to her, Fujimura-san?" Shirou asked as he and the others gaze at Taiga.

"Yukari first became a teacher in Shinjuku High shortly after moving to Tokyo. She, Itou and I quickly became friends and many students in the school really liked her. But sadly, one student in particular liked her too much. About three years ago, it was only the first month of a new school year, and one male student walked up to Yukari, cornered her and confesses his love for her. When he tried to get too close to her, Yukari slapped him in self-defense and escape. And the very next day…" Taiga paused for a moment to recompose herself as she painfully recalls the past events to Saber and her team. "Things become really terrible for her. I don't know how but someone actually took a video of her slapping the student and posted it onto the Internet. Word spread throughout the entire school and while some students and teachers, including me and Hitomi defended her, many of them turn against her."

"I assume this Itou is one of them?" Chulainn asked.

"Hai." Taiga replied softly. "Horrible rumors began popping out, ranging from Yukari being a violent woman outside of school to her being a sex object that attracts young boys. The rumors were too much for her and they even caught the attention of the students' parents. Of course I never believe them!" Her voice raised. "Yukari is one of the nicest people I've ever known! She would never do anything so terrible…" Taiga's brows furrowed as her heart became consumed with sadness and guilt. Her tone softened as she calmed down. "I should have done so much more. I should have stand by her side, doing everything I can to defend her and reason with everyone who are against her. But life is so unfair, isn't it?"

As he lowers his head, Ricky narrows his eyes and curls his hands into tight fists. "Yeah, it is." He muttered.

Rin slides over to Taiga's side and gave a gentle pat on her thigh. "It's not your fault, Taiga. You did everything you can to help her." Rin said soothingly to her.

"I miss Yukari so much. She was one of my closest friends, yet she got herself into so much trouble because of some stupid images." Taiga said somberly.

Saber, who had been staring wordlessly at Taiga and attentively listening to her, suddenly got up from her seat and said bluntly to everyone, "Excuse me for a while."

* * *

As soon as Saber steps into the women's restroom, she spotted Yukari sitting at the corner, wrapping her arms around her legs and sobbing in despondency with her face buried in her knees.

Frowning at her, Saber walks up to Yukari and kneels down to her level. "Hey, Taiga told me what happened during your last job. I'm so sorry that something horrific happened to you." She said apologetically.

"So you know…" Yukari murmured as she looks up at Saber with tears rolling down her cheeks. "I know they happened so long ago...But how can you go on with your life…knowing that so many people despise you?"

"And what are you going to do about it?! Just keep your head low and let the whole world damned you whatever they want?! Give me a fucking break!" Saber chided furiously. Yukari remained silent as she stares back at her leader, beset in shock and confusion. Saber lets out a frustrated sigh as she stood up and strokes her hair. She continued as her tone softened, "Look, when I was still a cop in London, I too have my life fucked up in the past. But you know what my superior told me and the other guys in the police department? As the city's protectors, we represent the pride and strength of London. Throughout its history, my hometown had experienced two world wars and countless riots and terrorist bombings, but when that happened, do we just sit around and mope over it? Fuck no. We do not run away with our tails between our legs. That's what those bastards want us to do. So when the Nazis invaded our city, we defended ourselves, and then drove their asses out of Africa in retaliation. And when terrorists bombed our city, we suck it up, rebuild what we lost and continue our lives as normal. That's what being a member of the London Police is all about. Show the world what the British people are made of. Show them that our spirit is never broken." Saber snorted as she rubs her temples. "God, I sound like Sisigou."

Yukari wipes her tears off her eyes as she continued staring blankly at her leader. When Saber looks back at her, she gave her a look of dead seriousness. "I'm telling you all of this because I failed to take that advice and walk down a path that I can never turn back. But you still have a chance. So wake up Caster. You are a strong and unpredictable woman. You have proven that to me over and over again. So why can't you do the same thing here?"

Yukari took a gulp and replied, "Maybe I'll feel better…if I have a shoulder to lean on."

"Will mine help?" Saber asked. She smiled tenderly at her as she extends out her hand to Yukari. Yukari stares at her hand for a moment before grabbing it. Saber pulls her up from the ground and she gave Yukari a pat on the shoulder.

"Boss…Arigatou." Yukari said softly.

Saber nods her head and gestures her to the restroom door. "Come on. The others are waiting for you."

* * *

Saber and Yukari walk back to the table where the others are sitting and waiting for them. Upon seeing her friend, Taiga got up, walks over to Yukari and embraces her.

"Yukari-chan, I'm so sorry." Taiga said apologetically to Yukari as she rests her head on her shoulder and tightens her embrace. "Back then, I should have helped you more. I never wanted you to suffer so badly."

Yukari smiled as she hugs Taiga back. "It's okay. It's not your fault. Nothing that had happened to me is." She reassured her warmly. When they pull themselves away from each other, Taiga and Yukari stare at each other silently for a few seconds.

"Taiga, I know it's unfortunate what happened between me and Itou. But you don't have to worry about me." Yukari fought back the urge to cry as she stares boldly at Taiga. "I've decided that no matter how much it hurts…no matter how many times misfortune struck down upon me…I'll just stay strong…keep my head up…and don't run away from reality. I used to think after what happened to me at my hometown and Shinjuku, I truly am the most pathetic person in the world. But that's because I just wasn't strong back then. Not anymore." A wide smile takes form on Ricky's face as he heard that. "I have new friends now. And I still have you, Taiga."

"And that's why if you ever need help, I'll do everything I can for you!" Taiga reassured. "Right?"

Yukari smiled sadly at her friend before nodding her head in agreement. "Of course."

Taiga proceeds to give Yukari another warm embrace. Yukari sighs blissfully as she hugs her friend back. When they break away from their hug once more, Yukari suggested, "You know, I really don't want to end this night on a downer so…would you like to dance?"

Taiga gasps and widens her eyes. "Of course I do!" She shouted excitedly as she grabs Yukari's hands. A huge grin plastered across her face as if all of her guilt and dismay vanished in an instant. "I was looking forward to showing you my dancing skills anyways! Come on!"

Yukari laughed as Taiga pulls her to the dance floor just as the DJ began playing the next song.

"Well, there's nothing else for us to do here so…wanna have some fun?" Illya asked her teammates with a grin.

"That would be great!" Chulainn replied smiling.

Ricky, Shirou and Rin turned to Saber who had been idly standing nearby. She sighs heavily in response. "Why not?" She mumbled.

"Alright, let's go!" Ricky cried as everyone get up from their seats and head over to the dance floor to join Yukari and Taiga.

Yukari, Taiga, Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Illya, and Chulainn hooted rambunctiously as they danced along to the music. Saber grumbled miserably as she stood by the side of the floor and watched her teammates able to enjoy themselves when she isn't a good dancer herself. But to her surprise, Ricky goes over to Saber, grabs her arm and pulls her over to the dance floor.

"Just go along with me." Ricky said to his boss as he places her hand at the side of her upper body. Saber nodded in response as she stares blankly at her second-in-command. As Ricky slides his hand down to Saber's waist, they both sway their hips side to side. Ricky grabs Saber's other hand and the two began taking a few steps to the side and briefly lift their legs in the air before going to the other side and repeat the process. They did this a few times before suddenly, to Saber's shock, Ricky releases his hands from her and backs away, leaving her to dance by herself.

To her surprise, Saber finds herself swaying her hips and swinging her arms side to side. She closes her eyes and smile as she began taking a few steps to her left and claps her hands before going to her right and repeats the process.

Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Illya, Chulainn, Yukari and Taiga cheer and clap their hands as they watch her dance. Saber opens her eyes and couldn't help but laugh as they all dance the night away. She still finds it hard to believe that she actually helped Yukari with her troubles. But at the end of the day, she is relieved that all's well, and ends well.

* * *

Aizawa and her friends find themselves walking towards an abandoned warehouse located at the other side of Shibuya.

"What is this place, Wataru?" Aizawa asked her boyfriend in confusion.

"Is this really where the party is happening?" Chihiro added, staring at the ominous warehouse uncomfortably as they walked over to the side of the building.

When they arrived at a metal door, Wataru responded to them, "I'll explain everything when we're inside."

"Huh?" Aizawa said.

Wataru knocks on the door and the small window slides open. After realizing that it was Wataru and his friends, the woman at the other side of the door closes the window and unlocks the door. The five entered the building and the woman who was guarding the door greeted them.

"Just in time, Wataru. We were about to move out soon." The woman implied to Wataru.

"We better do so now if we want to make it on schedule." Wataru replied solemnly.

"Hai." The woman bowed to him before he ran off to the next room.

"Okay, what exactly is going on?" Aizawa asked incredulously.

"Come with me." Wataru said, gesturing his friends to go into the next room. Aizawa, Chihiro and the two boys look at each other for a moment before they reluctantly follow him.

Aizawa, Chihiro and the two boys widen their eyes in bewilderment as they and Wataru entered the room. There wasn't a party as Wataru had told them. Instead, there is a van parked in the center of the room. There are two men and the same woman from earlier, all dressed in casual clothing, ready to move out. The woman presses a button on the control panel on the wall, which slides open the main warehouse doors. The other two men get inside the driver and passenger seats of the van.

As the woman opened the back doors of the van and entered, Wataru turned to his friends and explained, "Tonight, we are heading to Oi Thermal Power Station in Shinagawa to gather up some supplies and materials, and I need you guys to help us out."

"Why us?" Chihiro inquired.

"Because I can trust you all to do so. Can you do that?" Wataru asked.

"Whoa! I know what this is! This is some sort of heist, right?! I've seen this in television and video games all the time! If that's true, then I'm not doing this, man!" One of the brown-haired boys yelled exasperatedly.

"Yeah, me too! I don't want to throw away my future by going to jail for this! I can't believe you would actually do such a thing, Wataru! I thought you're better than this!" The other brown-haired boy cried in horror.

"Very well. You two may leave then. I won't force you." Wataru said. Aizawa and Chihiro stare at him incredulously.

"Really?" One of the boys said, as he and the other widen their eyes.

"Yes." Wataru nods his head.

"Good. I'm out of here." One of the boys responded flatly.

"I'm sorry Wataru. But I don't think we'll ever see each other again after this, because I don't want to associate myself with someone who commits theft." The other boy said.

Wataru's eyes softened, lowering his head in shame. "I'm sorry." He apologized to the two boys as they turn around and leave.

Chihiro was about to follow suit when suddenly, Wataru looked up at her and Aizawa and said sternly, "Chihiro, Aizawa." The two girls flinch and turn to him. "Please. I need you two to do this for us. I promise that whatever happens tonight, I'll be there to protect you both, and make sure neither of you will be caught red-handed."

Aizawa stares at Wataru, trembling in fear as he walks up to her. She flinched as he places his hand on her shoulder. "We'll always stick together, right? I won't let anything happen to you. Will you help, please?" Wataru asked his girlfriend with a pleading frown.

Aizawa lowers her head for a moment to think about it. She knows this is wrong. Not only is committing a heist an extremely serious offence that can put her behind bars for a very long time, but it will also have dire consequences for her when she is in and out of prison. Her future and her relationship with her family will be destroyed if she goes along with this.

However, she knows that Wataru is by her side. She and Wataru have always been in love since high school. Whenever she needs help or got herself in trouble back then and now, whether if its bullies, men trying to harass her or when she has issues with her parents and people she dislike, her boyfriend is always there for her, helping her out and providing her comfort and protection in her time of need and desperation. That is why she truly loves him. If she say no to this, she will be disappointing Wataru, and what she never wants the most is making her boyfriend upset in any way. She is always asking Wataru for help in the past, and now she realized that it's time for her to do the same thing for him.

Aizawa looks up at Wataru and nods her head. "Hai." She said softly to him. She turns to Chihiro and grabs her hand. "Don't worry. If Wataru is with us, everything will be fine."

"Exactly." Wataru said solemnly. Chihiro stared wordlessly at Aizawa and Wataru for a moment before nodding her head nervously.

* * *

The two brown-haired boys sigh heavily as they leave the warehouse. They couldn't believe what had happened back there. Their longtime friend Wataru, whom they have always admire and look up to, was trying to persuade them to commit a heist. But they would have to be out of their minds to actually agree to help him. Wataru may had been their friend, but they are not willing to risk their future by facing the consequences for their actions if they had went along-

_**SHING!** _

The two boys stop and look up to see a woman, whose dark purple hair is tied to a long ponytail and wearing a white mask that conceals her face, two large round silver earrings, a black two-piece bikini-like outfit around her chest, black pants, black boots and dark brown straps around her left upper arm, wrists, neck and left thigh, drawing out her daggers.

The boys could only let out yells of horror as the woman dashes over to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the latest chapter.
> 
> Itou and Aizawa are actually characters in Makoto Shinkai's _The Garden of Words_ , the latter is arguably an antagonist. Her friends, Wataru, Chihiro and the boys also appear in the film by surrounding her in their classroom, even though their names are never said. So the names 'Wataru' and 'Chihiro' were actually made up by me. Hitomi is an OC of mine.
> 
> Chapter revised on 27th September 2018 after learning that Yukari's ex-boyfriend is in fact Itou, heh.


	20. Tokyo, Part 2

_**3 Years Ago…** _

_**Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan** _

"See you later, Yukino-sensei!" One of the schoolgirls said as she and her friend wave goodbye to their teacher.

"See you!" Yukari smiled at the girls before they head to the eatery to have their school break. The moment of peace was broken when the teacher heard some laughter. Yukari turns her head and realized that it is coming from the girls' restroom. She walks inside to find out what is going on.

To her alarm, she sees two students kissing each other at the bathroom sink. Even worse is the fact that one of the students is someone she easily recognized. It is Aizawa, sitting on the sink with her uniform unbuttoned, exposing her bra and upper chest. The girl was smiling as she kissed the male student in front of her with great ferocity. Yukari narrows her eyes as this isn't the first time she has caught Aizawa shamelessly engaged herself in intimacy in the school premises.

"Ahem!" Yukari said sternly. Aizawa and the male student gasp as they turn their heads to the teacher. "Aizawa, what are you doing?"

"And I can ask the same fucking question to you too!" Aizawa snapped at her teacher as she covers up her chest.

Yukari turns to the male student and glares at him. She realized it is the exact same male student which she has noticed him hanging out with Aizawa many times before.

"And as for you, get out of here. You are not supposed to be in here." Yukari reprimanded the male student.

The male student snorted at the teacher and grabs Aizawa's hand after she had buttoned up her uniform. "Let's go." He said to her.

"You got it, Wataru." Aizawa responded flatly as she gets off the sink. She and Wataru gave one final glare at Yukari as they walk out of the restroom.

* * *

_**3 Hours Later…** _

Almost everyone in class listened attentively to Miss Yukino as she read a paragraph from John Steinbeck's The Pearl. The only student in class who isn't paying any attention to her teacher is Aizawa, who had her elbow placed on the table and resting her head on her hand as she blankly stares outside the class window, impatiently waiting for school to end.

"The screams of the baby brought the neighbours. Out of their brush houses they poured - Kino's brother Juan Tomas and his fat wife Apolonia and their four children crowded in the door and blocked the entrance, while behind them others tried to look in, and one small boy crawled among legs to have a look. And those in front passed the word back to those behind - 'Scorpion. The baby has been stung.'"

As soon as Yukari finished reading, the bell rang. The students got up from their seats and bow solemnly to their teacher.

"Arigatou, Yukino-sensei." The students said in unison.

"Remember to do your homework and have a good night's rest." Yukari responded to her students with a smile as she closes her book. As the students began packing their bags, Yukari said to Aizawa from where she stood, "Aizawa, can I have a minute with you?"

Aizawa stares at her teacher in shock for a moment before groaning and rolling her eyes. She turns to Chihiro who had finished packing and slinging the strap of her schoolbag over her shoulder. "Chihiro, wait for me outside the school."

"See you later." Chihiro said to her friend as she makes her departure.

After everyone else had left the class, Aizawa grabs her bag and walks over to Yukari.

"What?" Aizawa asked flatly, giving her teacher a scowl.

Yukari narrows her eyes. "Aizawa, I want you to stay away from that boy." She reprimanded.

"WHAT?! WHY?!" Aizawa shouted in mortified horror.

"Because that boy is a bad influence to you!" Yukari chided.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Aizawa snapped as she stomps her foot. "What do you even know about him?!"

"Watch your language and temper, Aizawa."

"No, you better watch yourself!" Aizawa roared as she jabs a finger directly at her teacher. Yukari remained calm as she kept her glare at her student.

"I don't care if you have an attraction to him. He will surely cause trouble for you in the future." Yukari said sternly.

"Oh fuck you, you god damn hag! I don't want to hear another word from you!" After letting out this defiant cry, Aizawa turns away and raced out of the classroom.

Yukari sighs heavily as she watched her leave. "Aizawa, when are you ever going to learn?" She murmured.

* * *

_**The next day…** _

Miss Yukino walks down the hallway after another day of school had ended. She frowned worriedly as she walked. Aizawa wasn't present in the classroom today. Yukari even talked to the students and other teachers of the class and they told her that Aizawa did not show up in school at all. That is when she began to feel concerned.

Yukari did feel bad for scolding Aizawa yesterday as she never like doing so to her students unless when it comes to a point. But at the same time, she was warning her not to hang out with the boy whom she always notices to be around her. Yukari can tell from just a glance at the boy that he is suspicious and untrustworthy and she feels very uncomfortable knowing the fact that one of her students is hanging out with such a person. Perhaps when she returns to the staffroom, she will try to contact Aizawa's parents and question them where their daughter is and how is she doing, even though she had heard from Aizawa before that she never gets along with her parents and brother and there are arguments between them almost every night.

"Hello there."

Yukari stopped upon hearing the voice. She looks up and widens her eyes in surprise. As if she spoke of the devil, the boy whom Aizawa had been hanging out with is standing right in front of her. Despite the wide age gap between the two, the boy clearly towers over her by several inches.

Yukari narrows her eyes as she kept her cool demeanor. "It's you. Your name is Wataru, right? What do you want?" She asked.

"Well, here's the thing." A smirk takes form on Wataru's face. "I know you always see me with Aizawa, making out and all. But…do you want to know who I actually like now? You."

"What?!" Yukari cried incredulously. She glances over Wataru's shoulder and turns her head around, but unfortunately, there isn't anybody else in the hallway. With the exception of the two, the area is empty.

"No seriously." Wataru chuckled. "I've always been attracted to you. Even though Aizawa is gorgeous, sexy, hot…but you are more beautiful than her, you know?"

"Wataru," Yukari spoke firmly as she began stepping away. "I would advise you to-"

"And so what if you're years older than me. Love cannot be stopped, right?"

"Wataru-"

"Tell me, are you single?"

"That is enou-"

"If yes, then come on." Wataru walks towards Yukari with a lustful smirk. "Let's have our first kiss." He closes his eyes and began leaning forward. In response, Yukari immediately swings her hand and delivers a hard slap across his face.

As Wataru stood there with his eyes snapped open, Yukari quickly took the opportunity to turn around and run away to safety.

* * *

_**The next day…** _

Yukari casually walk into the school. She flinched in fear as she vividly remembers what Wataru tried to do to her yesterday. She was right. Wataru is someone that can't be trusted. Hopefully, Aizawa will be present in school today so that if she had the opportunity, she must alert her that she can no longer be surrounded by Wataru ever again.

The teacher lets out a sigh, trying to forget the horrible encounter she had with Wataru yesterday and act normal throughout the rest of the day. She must make her way to the staffroom right away to tell her fellow teachers and the principal about his inappropriate behavior and if she were to stumble upon him again, she must avoid making any contact with him.

She tries to clear her mind by turning her head to three first-year students who are happily conversing with each other while standing outside their classroom.

"Good morning." Yukari politely greeted them.

However, instead of receiving a proper response from the students, they stare wordlessly at her before turning and walking back into their classroom.

Yukari frowned in confusion. She couldn't understand why she didn't get the formal response she was hoping for. She turns back to her front and she widens her eyes in horror as two girls move to the side and avoided making eye contact with her. She began to panic. What is going on here? Why is everyone acting so strange towards her today?

When she arrived at the third floor where both her classroom and the staffroom are located, she stood in shock as she watched an intense scene being displayed from a distance. She recognizes one of her students standing at the doorway of her classroom arguing with two third-year students from the neighboring class. As their voices grew louder, Yukari decided to step in to take action.

When she approached them, Yukari asked her student, "Nakata? What's going on here?"

"These guys! They are talking crap about you!" Nakata explained to his teacher.

"Well well, look who showed up right in front of us!" One of the students from the other class said as he and his friend glared at the teacher.

"Better stay away from her or she will violate your modesty." His friend added.

"How can you say that?! She would never do that!" Nakata whirled about and snapped at the two boys.

"That's enough. Nakata, get inside the classroom." Yukari said firmly to her student.

As Nakata obliged and entered the classroom, one of the neighboring class students stepped in and shouted at every student present in the room, "Wow! I feel sorry for all of you! Having an old hag who grooms young boys as your literature teacher!"

"ENOUGH! Get back to your class right now!" Yukari yelled furiously at the two. The two students snarled at her before turning around and heading back to their own classroom.

Yukari turns her head to her students who all stare at her in a mixture of confusion, fear and anxiety. She couldn't believe it. Even her own students are acting suspiciously towards her. She breathed heavily as she stared wordlessly at them, still having no idea what is going on and where do those accusations that the two boys made came from. Turning away in shame, she raced down the hallway and makes her way to the staffroom.

She hoped that she can finally take a moment to recompose herself upon entering the staffroom. But to her horror, she sees several teachers, including Taiga, Hitomi and Itou, gathered close together and giving Yukari the same reaction she received from her students earlier.

"E-everyone, w-what is going on?" Yukari nervously inquired.

Taiga took a step forward but one of the teachers grabbed her arm. Taiga gave her a glare and pulls her arm off from the teacher's grip. She walks over to Yukari and stares back at her with her brows furrowed.

"Taiga-chan?" Yukari murmured.

"Yukari-chan? Is it true?" Taiga asked. She holds up her smartphone to show what is displayed on the screen.

Yukari's eyes grew wide in horror. Her mouth agape as she watched a short video clip posted on the Internet. Despite filming from Wataru's back and not showing his identity, the video clearly showed Yukari slapping her hand across his face. She shifts her eyes down at the comments posted below the video, all of them universally expressing their hatred and disgust towards her.

Yukari trembled and breathed irregularly as she felt nauseous. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe what is happening.

* * *

Yukari gasps as she rose up from her bed. She breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath as she wipes off the sweat from her face and pushes away the strands of hair dangling in front of her eyes.

She looks around the dark hotel room which she, Saber, Rin and Illya are currently in. She turns her head to the side and could barely see Illya sleeping soundly beside her. On the other bed, Saber and Rin were sleeping as well. Ricky, Shirou and Chulainn are resting in a separate room.

Yukari sighs as she slowly lies back down on her bed and pulls the sheets over her body. She wipes off a tear from her eye as she stares at the ceiling. She hates reliving the memories of that day when her life changed forever, which eventually led to her firing and severing the connections of so many people she had made throughout her time in Tokyo. The feeling she had when everyone she knew and loved turn their backs on her was dreadful and it is something she may never recover from.

But after what Saber had told her back at the nightclub, she knows she had to stay strong. Those haunting memories may remain inside her forever, and she must live with them. Yukari closes her eyes and tries to get back to sleep, hoping that tomorrow; things will become better for her during her stay in her former home.

* * *

_**Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan** _

One of the security guards gets out of the outpost to place himself in front of the oncoming van. When it came to a halt, the guard walks to the right side of the van as the window lowered, seeing that the driver and passenger are wearing white uniforms and construction helmets. The driver holds up his identification card slotted inside his lanyard and the guard examines it. Afterwards, the guard takes a minute to go to the back of the van to check what is stored behind. He opens the door and sees four large metal crates and a trolley neatly placed in the back of the vehicle. After closing the doors, the guard walks back into the outpost and lifts the barrier up from the vehicle.

After entering the premises of the power station, the van drives over to the nearest empty parking space and it came to a halt. The driver stayed in his seat while the passenger heads to the back of the vehicle and opens the doors, revealing Wataru, Aizawa, Chihiro and the woman coming out from the metal crates.

"Let's get to work." Wataru said solemnly.

* * *

After putting on their uniforms, lanyards and helmets, Wataru, Aizawa, Chihiro and the two thugs enter the power station. One of the thugs pushes the trolley with the empty crates stack on it.

"Wataru, how long have you been doing this? And why didn't you tell me and Chihiro about any of this?" Aizawa asked, still unable to comprehend the fact that her boyfriend does such things on a regular basis.

"I'll explain everything later. But first, we got a job to do." Wataru replied.

They took an elevator down to the lowest floor of the station. They step out of the elevator and walk down what felt like a long, endless hallway. Eventually, they find themselves standing in front of a large vault door. After Wataru and the two thugs look around to make sure that no one else is around their vicinity, one of the thugs proceed to hold up her lanyard in front of the scanner next to the door. They could hear the vault door being unlocked and slowly sliding itself open.

As the door slowly opens, Wataru instructed his friends, "Aizawa, Chihiro, when we are inside the room, I want you both to help us gather all of the canisters of lanthanum."

"Lanthanamanum?" Aizawa said in confusion.

"Lanthanum. They are stored in canisters with the label 'La'. Quickly grab all of them and place them inside the crates. Simple as that." Wataru said.

"O-okay." Aizawa said nervously as she and Chihiro slowly nod their heads.

When the door is fully opened, one of the thugs remains outside to keep an eye out while Wataru, Aizawa, Chihiro and the other thug stepped into the room. The room has several shelves lined up in vertical rows and each of them containing canisters of a different chemical element.

They arrived at the shelf that contains the canisters of lanthanum. All of the lanthanum that they are searching for is stored in metallic gray cylinder-shaped canisters, all of them with the letters 'La' labelled on them. Wataru gave a nod to the thug, signaling her to open the crates.

"Grab them all." Wataru ordered Aizawa and Chihiro. The four grab the canisters off from the shelf and place them gently in the crates.

Meanwhile, the thug standing outside the room sees a security guard walking down the hallway. Narrowing his eyes, the guard walks over to the disguised thug and inquired, "What's going on here?"

"Room check." The thug responded.

The guard silently nods his head. "May I see some identification?" He asked.

The thug holds up his lanyard to show his identification card to the guard. After the guard finished examining it, he looks back up at him. "Can I get inside to see if things are going smoothly?" He asked curiously.

"No sir. I can assure you everything is going just fine." The thug replied.

The guard gazed at the thug for a moment. "I'll be the judge of that." He replied. But as soon as the guard could take a step into the room, the thug swiftly draws out a stun gun and electrocutes him from the behind. The guard lets out an agonizing howl before rolling his eyes back and falling unconscious.

Wataru, Aizawa, Chihiro and the other thug turn their heads to the doorway as the guard fell to the metal floor with a thud. The thug at the doorway looks up at them and yelled, "Hurry up!"

The four hurriedly place the last four canisters of lanthanum into one of the crates and Wataru quickly closes it. As the thug pushes the crates out of the room, Wataru, Aizawa and Chihiro follow her from behind. However, Aizawa's shoulder accidentally made contact with a canister of barium from a shelf beside her, causing it to fall off.

The three stop and turn around to see Aizawa quickly picking up the canister from the metal floor as she began panicking. Chihiro goes over to her, wraps her hand around the canister and helps her friend place it back gently on the shelf beside them.

"Come on! Let's go!" Wataru yelled. Aizawa and Chihiro run back to him and the thug and they all leave the room. They rejoin with the other thug and everyone raced down the hallway, making their way back to the elevator.

Unbeknownst to them, the guard groans as he slowly grabs his radio from his belt and holds it in front of his mouth. "I-i-in…truders…" He moaned weakly.

* * *

Within two seconds, the alarm rang throughout the entire facility. Large groups of security guards, armed with electric batons, run down every hallway in the power station, searching for the disguised thugs who have intruded with facility.

As they ride the elevator up to the first floor with their stolen stash, Wataru had contacted the driver to drive over to the station's entrance. When the elevator came to a halt and the doors open, everyone quickly got out and make their way to the foyer of the station.

Unfortunately, when they arrived, they froze as four security guards arrived at the scene, place themselves in front of the entrance and draw out their electric batons.

"Freeze! Don't move!" One of the guards bellowed at them.

"Stay put." Wataru said firmly to the others before charging towards the guards. Aizawa and Chihiro watch in awe as Wataru punches the nearest guard directly in the face, sending him falling onto the marble floor.

The guard next to Wataru attempted to swing his baton horizontally at him. As Wataru whirled about, he knocks the baton out of the guard's hand and uses his other hand to grab his face. As he kneels down, Wataru slams the guard down on the floor.

The last two remaining guards run up to Wataru from behind. As Wataru got up and turn around, one of them thrusts his baton at him. Wataru swiftly steps aside and brought his elbow down on his back. When he lands on the ground, Wataru quickly stomps his foot on the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. The other guard tried to swing his baton at him, but Wataru grabs his arm and gave it a hard twist. The guard screams in agony as his arm broke, causing him to drop his baton. Aizawa and Chihiro cringed and stare in horror at what their friend had done. Wataru clenches his fist and delivers a swift punch to the guard's face, breaking his nose in the process. The guard rolls his eyes back as he loses his consciousness and Wataru releases his arm, letting him slump onto the ground.

Wataru turns back to Aizawa, Chihiro and the thugs. "Let's go."

The others nod their heads and everyone make their way out of the station with their stolen stash. As Wataru and one of the thugs open the doors, they see their van parked in front of the entrance. The driver opens the doors for them and Wataru, Aizawa, Chihiro and the thugs quickly push the crates over to the van and carry them into the back.

As Aizawa and one of the thugs help carry the last crate of canisters into the back of the van, the former looks up and sees a large group of security guards running through the foyer and heading towards them.

"They're coming!" Aizawa shouted in alarm with her eyes wide.

"Hurry, let's-AAGGHH!" Chihiro suddenly shrieked in pain as Wataru directly kicks the back of her leg.

"What?!" Aizawa cried as she turned her head to see Chihiro kneeling down on the back of the van. Chihiro howled in pain again as Wataru gave a hard kick in her back, sending her falling off from the van and landing on the road on her face.

"Chihiro-chan!" Aizawa scream in horror as she stares at her friend helplessly lying on the road in pain. She was about to loosen her grip around the crate's handle to help her, but Wataru stops her by placing his hand firmly on her shoulder.

"HURRY LET'S GO!" Wataru shouted at his girlfriend as he grabs the crate's handle.

"But Chihiro-"

"Will help us buy time! Come on!" Wataru yelled back at Aizawa.

"Aizawa-chan! Help!" Chihiro cried, extending her hand out to Aizawa as she struggled up to get up due to her injured leg.

Aizawa stares at her best friend, giving her a frown of pain, fear and shame. She wished she could help Chihiro, who had always been her best friend since her first year at Shinjuku High. However, she couldn't help but agree that Wataru is right. If she delay any further to help her friend, the security guards will catch up to them and she will end up getting herself and everyone behind bars. Closing her eyes and turning her head away in shame, Aizawa helped her boyfriend carry the last crate into the van.

"Help me Aizawa! HEELLPP MEEEE!" Chihiro screamed as tears began forming in her eyes. As Aizawa ignored her pleas, she, Wataru and the two thugs get inside the van and close the doors behind them. The van quickly drives off, leaving Chihiro behind to be apprehended by the security guards.

"Aizawaaaaaa…" Chihiro bawled one final time before the guards kneel beside her and place the handcuffs around her wrists.

* * *

Aizawa sobbed uncontrollably as she slams her fist against the metal wall of the van. The young woman is consumed with sorrow and shame over what she had done to her best friend.

"Chihiro…" She whimpered as tears flow down her cheeks. After a moment of crying over the loss of her friend, Aizawa turned to Wataru and shouted at him with her eyes wide, "Wataru! How could you do that to her?! Chihiro was our friend!"

"I told you that I won't let anything happen to you, right?" Wataru replied flatly, not showing a hint of sympathy and regret at all.

"But not at the cost of our friend! You even said that you'll protect us both!" Aizawa roared, slamming her fist against the metal wall again.

"But in situations like this, you have to choose one or the other to save yourself, and I chose you! You should be grateful!" Wataru shouted. Aizawa drops her jaw in horror as she stares back at her boy-the man she blindly thought was her boyfriend with trembling eyes.

"I…I don't know who you are anymore…" Aizawa choked out as more tears freely pool down her cheeks. "The Wataru I know would always help me and my friends no matter what! That is why I admired you!"

"And what you did was just saw in me what you wanted to see in me." Wataru responded. Aizawa snarled at him in response. The young woman began to quiver with rage and hatred.

"That's it! I had it! I hate you, Wataru! I-MMPH!" Before Aizawa could continue shouting at her former boyfriend, the female thug suddenly wraps an arm around her neck and places a cloth, soaked with chloroform, over her mouth. Aizawa moaned as she began rolling her eyes back.

"There's nothing we can do to reason with her anymore. Let's just take her back to the hideout." Wataru said to the thug.

"Hai." She replied to her leader. Those were the last words Aizawa could barely hear before everything around her went black.

* * *

A large group of reporters gathered outside the power station the following morning. Several policemen and security guards place themselves behind the barrier to prevent them from entering the premises while the facility is under lockdown. The reporters stop murmuring among themselves when they see two detectives walking over to the barrier while being escorted by four policemen. The reporters rush over to the detectives, desperately trying to gather information from them, but the four escorting officers quickly stood in front of them and spread their arms wide.

"Sir, what is going on here?" One of the reporters tried to inquire one of the detectives as he extends out his phone.

"How did a group of six people managed to break into the facility?" Another reporter asked.

"What exactly was stolen from the power station?" Yet another reporter asked.

The detectives remain silent as they walk over to the barrier. They show their identification cards to the police officers standing behind the barrier and the senior officer nods his head approvingly.

"Welcome to the station, inspectors Yamaguchi and Inoue." The senior officer greeted them.

"How many canisters of lanthanum were stolen from the scene, senior officer?" Yamaguchi inquired.

"All of them, sir. 40 to be precise." The senior officer answered. "Six people manage to invade the facility by disguising themselves as power station workers with forged identification cards. They enter the facility by a van and went inside unnoticed for a while to steal the canisters from one of the station's vaults. Five security guards were injured, but they did manage to apprehend one of the robbers who is now in our custody."

"Thanks for the information." Inoue said as she and Yamaguchi bow their heads to the senior officer. "We'll begin our investigation."

The security guard in the outpost opens the barrier up, allowing the inspectors to enter the premises of the power station.

"I'll come along with you to make sure both of you are safe." The senior officer said to the inspectors.

"That won't be necessary." Yamaguchi smiled at the senior officer as he kindly rejects his offer.

"But it is my duty-"

"Konichiwa!"

"Huh?" The senior officer said in confusion as he turned around. The security guards and the other officers were dumbfounded at the sight of a woman, dressed in a police uniform, hat and pants, smiling at the senior officer as she waves her hand at him.

"Are you Senior Officer Ikeda? It's a pleasure to meet you!" The policewoman called out to the senior officer.

"Who are you?" Ikeda uttered as he adjusts his hat.

"We forgot to mention earlier that the station is assigning you under the wing of a newly promoted sergeant." Inoue said to the senior officer sheepishly as she adjusts her glasses.

"Huh?" Ikeda said in bewilderment as he glances at the detectives before turning back to the policewoman. "Is that so? Let her in!"

The guard lifts up the barrier once more, allowing the sergeant to enter the facility and walk over to Ikeda.

"Ma'am, may I-"

"Did I allow you to talk?! Atten hut!" The sergeant barked authoritatively as her cheerful demeanor instantly vanished.

"Hai!" Ikeda was startled for a moment before quickly standing up straight in front of the higher ranked officer. Ikeda tries his best to maintain his composure as the sergeant gazes back at him with a stern frown.

"We'll let you two have your moment to get to know each other while we continue with our investigations." Yamaguchi said as he and Inoue begin making their way to the entrance of the facility.

"No problem, inspectors!" The sergeant smiled at the inspectors and winks an eye at them. The inspectors wink back as they walk away.

_"Archer, Rider, are you guys inside the facility?" Saber asked them through their earpieces._

'Yamaguchi' presses his earpiece and responds, "We're making our way inside the power station now. Caster managed to distract the guards for us."

_"Good. Investigate the room quickly before the real inspectors arrive on the scene." Saber said._

"Yes, ma'am." Rin replied before she and Shirou remove their fingers from their earpieces.

"You know, outside of teaching, Caster is surprisingly a good actor too." Shirou said to Rin.

"And thank God I didn't lose my cool back there, because damn, this suit is tight. I'm not surprised if Berserker intentionally gave me the wrong size." Rin narrows her eyes as she tries to move her shoulders around a bit.

When they reach the doors and push them open, Shirou abruptly commented, "Did anyone say you look cute in glasses?

Rin gave an incredulous response. "Huh?!"

* * *

Shirou and Rin walk down the hallway of the very bottom floor of the facility. They remember how as soon as they woke up early in the morning, they received news from Maiya that Oi Thermal Power Station had been invaded last night, and learning that canisters of lanthanum were stolen from the place, they knew it had be the actions of Hassan-i-Sabbah and Matou Industries' secret factory here in Tokyo. The two reach the vault room that was broken in last night and they show their identification cards to the security guard who is standing in front of the room. The guard nods his head in approval before stepping aside to allow the two 'inspectors' to enter the room. They walk through the room and soon stumbled across the now emptied shelf where the robbers have taken the lanthanum from.

"No surprise that they took everything. Lanthanum is one of the main components to build their precious Od serum after all." Rin said.

"They must be running low in resources if they resort to stealing all of them." Shirou said. Rin takes out her torchlight to examine the shelf and look for clues. Shirou turns his head to the shelf beside the one they are currently standing in front of. He frowns as he notices one of the canisters is placed in the opposite direction when the others are clearly showing off the letters 'Ba' as they are placed neatly in a horizontal row.

Rin turns her head to see Shirou walking over to the next shelf to examine the one canister that is sticking out differently from the rest.

"Archer, why are you looking at the shelf of barium?" Rin asked.

"This one might interest you." Shirou said, gesturing Rin to the canister. Rin walks over to him and shines her torchlight at the canister, revealing several fingerprints.

"Bingo." Rin said, turning off her torchlight. She takes out a small rod-shaped object and points at the canister, using it to scan the fingerprints that are plastered all over it.

Shirou places his finger on his earpiece. "Berserker, are you getting the prints?"

_"Ja! You two gave me a chuck load of important treasures!" Illya replied enthusiastically at the other side of the line._

"Good. Let's get back and regroup with Caster." Rin said, putting away the scanner after she had finished the job.

* * *

An hour later, after changing back to their normal clothes, Shirou, Rin and Yukari return to their hotel room in Shibuya, where Ricky, Saber and Chulainn are sitting on the beds while Illya sat at the dresser with her laptop placed in front of her.

"Great work, guys. Thanks to the prints you've collected from the scene, we managed to discover the identities of two of the collaborators." Saber said to the returning members.

"We scoured through the Japanese citizen database, filter our search by looking for citizens living in Tokyo, reducing the time of our search through my supercomputer and we're done." Illya explained with a smirk.

"Who are they?" Shirou asked as he, Rin and Yukari walk over to them. Illya turns the laptop and shows them the portraits of two individuals.

Yukari stared at the screen with her eyes wide and her mouth agape. She became stunned when she immediately recognized the two women that are displayed on the screen.

"What's wrong, Caster? You look like you got hit in the gut." Ricky asked Yukari as he, Saber, Chulainn and Illya noticed the shock expression on her face.

"I-I-It couldn't be…" Yukari struggled to say.

"What is it?" Saber asked. Shirou and Rin turn their heads to Yukari in concern as she gazed at the laptop.

Yukari uttered out the names of the people shown on the screen. "Chihiro? Aizawa?"

* * *

When she felt her phone vibrating inside her pocket, the purple-haired woman takes it out and places it against her ear.

"Yes sir?" The woman asked.

"Asako, the interrogation is about to begin in thirty minutes." The voice from the other side of the line said. "Get inside and eliminate Chihiro Kuze."

"Understood." The woman replied coldly before turning off her phone and putting it away.

Asako removes her white mask and puts on another one that is flesh-toned. She takes another minute to put on a police hat, a light blue short-sleeved uniform, dark blue pants and black shoes.

When she is done, she buttons up her collar and steps out of the toilet cubicle. Upon stepping out of the women's restroom, she stumbled across the janitor, who bows solemnly to her.

"Ma'am." The janitor said as the 'policewoman' walks past her. The janitor enters the restroom with her cleaning cart and began doing her duties. She grabs her brush and spray bottle and heads into one of the toilet cubicles.

Upon entering, her eyes widened and she lets out an ear-piercing scream of horror as inside one of the cubicles was a woman, only dressed in her undergarments, sitting on the toilet dead with her throat slit open.

* * *

Asako walks down the pavement and looks up at the building that she is making her way towards in the distance. It was the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters and her target is currently inside the building.

It is clear what she must do. Before any information about her boss and his operations spills out, Chihiro Kuze must be eliminated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter edited on 27th September 2018


	21. Tokyo, Part 3

_****_

_**Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan** _

Yukari finds herself putting on a disguise for the second time of the day as she walks down the hallways of the twentieth floor of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters.

Ninety minutes ago, thanks to Rin's hacking skills, they learnt from the Tokyo police database that Chihiro Kuze's interrogation begins at 11 am. Yukari requested the team to have her volunteer in gathering information from Chihiro. Knowing that the one being interrogated is a former student of hers, everyone in the team agrees that she will make the perfect person to do the job.

Like she did with Shirou and Rin, Illya helped gave Yukari a disguise by giving her a long dark brown hair wig tied to a ponytail, a pair of glasses and a light pink long-sleeved suit. She forged an official police identification card for Yukari, going under the alias 'Inspector Asuka Makimura', and handed her a special smartphone that automatically deactivates the cameras when she gets inside the interrogation room. And while Illya was busy with Yukari, Rin takes the opportunity to send 'official' emails to the inspectors who were supposed to be interrogating Chihiro that there have been a change of plans for them and given different tasks to perform instead.

When Yukari reached the door that leads to the room where Chihiro is held in, she sees a policewoman standing in front of it. The policewoman turns to her as she approached.

"Good morning Inspector." The policewoman greeted.

"Good morning. Is the accomplice to the crime, Chihiro Kuze, inside the room?" Yukari inquired.

"Yes ma'am. She is just sitting inside and hasn't moved from her seat."

Yukari slowly nods her head. "Good. We'll commence the interrogation."

"Don't mind if I go inside you? It's my duty to make sure that the suspect doesn't do anything to harm you during the session." The policewoman explained.

Yukari gave her a smile and replied, "Of course."

The policewoman opened the door for Yukari. As soon as she did, Illya's special phone which Yukari placed inside and sticking out from her suit pocket immediately made contact with the police cameras hanged at the top corners of the room.

The policemen sitting in the camera room were startled to see that the screens displaying the interrogation room abruptly went out and weren't even able to catch a clear glimpse of the two people who have entered. They quickly got up from their seats and began arguing among themselves as they flick every switch and checked every plug and socket at the console in front of them, desperately trying to get the cameras back on.

Back at the interrogation room, the disguised inspector sees her former student sitting in the middle of the small dark room. Her right wrist is cuffed and attached to the desk leg and her head is lowered in remorse and pain over what she had done the other night, the latter mostly came from what the people whom she originally saw as friends did to her to save their own selves.

"Chihiro…" Yukari's eyes softened as she murmured.

Chihiro looked up as Yukari and the policewoman entered the room. She took a gulp as she stares back at them and Yukari noticed that the sides of her eyes were red. She lets out a sigh as she walks over to her former student.

"Chihiro-AGH!" Yukari cried as the policewoman pushed her, causing her to turn and a bullet is shot into her forehead.

Chihiro gasped as Yukari closes her eyes and collapses onto the ground. The policewoman stood above her, aiming her pistol with an attached silencer at the now lifeless body. Chihiro's eyes widen in horror as she sees blood oozing out from Yukari's forehead.

The policewoman swiftly turns her head and aims her pistol at Chihiro. Chihiro made one final gasp before the policewoman pulls the-

Suddenly, Yukari jolted up from the ground and grabs the policewoman's wrist. Chihiro idly watches the display, shocked to see that the inspector is still alive. The policewoman was also so startled by this that she didn't even react as Yukari proceeds to give her wrist a twist, causing her to howl in pain as she drops her pistol.

Yukari grabs the pistol before it hits the ground and runs over to Chihiro. She jumps and slides over the desk and lands besides her former student. As she turns around, she proceeds to remove the ammunition clip, silencer and other important components from the policewoman's pistol before tossing the now useless weapon and its parts aside.

' _Shirou's training on me has paid off.'_  Yukari thought to herself and she wraps her arms protectively around Chihiro, who is still dumbfounded by all of this. The policewoman growled as she stares back at Yukari and draws out her daggers. Chihiro whimpered in response as she embraces the 'inspector'.

"Please don't let her kill me!" Chihiro pleaded Yukari, fearing for her life.

"You should have died." Asako icily said to Yukari, who gets out a handkerchief to wipe off the paint from her face and forehead.

"A bag of red paint pasted on my forehead and painted in flesh tone, courtesy of a friend of mine. And next time, do a better job disguising yourself. I instantly noticed the ends of the mask around your eyes the moment I met you." Yukari said as she puts away her handkerchief, thanking Illya for her tips in being able to see through disguises inside her thoughts.

"You came here well-prepared." Asako smirked. "I was planning on killing the both of you, then place the gun on Chihiro's hand to make everyone think she had committed murder before killing herself, thus taking any information she knows about our activities with her. What are you going to do now? You are completely defenseless and whatever bulletproof vests you have won't protect you from knives."

"I'll do whatever it takes to protect my former student from you." Yukari narrows her eyes at Asako.

"Former student?" Chihiro murmured as she looks up at Yukari in bewilderment.

Asako chuckled as she gets into her fighting stance. "Then prepare to die along with her, by the blades of a true assassin."

"Too bad that's not going to happen. For we have an assassin too." Yukari replied.

Suddenly, one of the metal panels of the ceiling burst open. Asako barely look up in time before Ricky came swinging down from the chute and slamming his boots against her face, sending her stumbling backwards and hitting against the door behind her. Ricky lands his feet on the ground and tightens his fists as he gets into his fighting stance.

As Asako gets back up, she noticed that her flesh-toned mask had been ripped by Ricky's powerful kick. She tears off her mask and quickly puts on her white mask to conceal her face yet again. She gets back into her fighting stance and she and Ricky stare intensively at each other for a moment.

Eventually, Asako steps forward and made the first move. She swings her leg diagonally in the air, which Ricky dodges by stepping to the side. He moves forward and swings his fist towards Asako, who also dodged by turning to the side. She grabs his arm and is about to bring her elbow down on it. But Ricky quickly swings his arm downwards as he moves over behind Asako, causing her to let him go.

Ricky kicks Asako's back with his knee, causing her to cry in pain as she is sent stumbling forward. Before she could fall to the ground, Ricky grabs her ponytail and swings her around, sending her colliding against the wall behind him.

Ricky is about to swing his fist at the back of her head, but Asako quickly move aside and his fist ended up colliding against the wall. Asako kicks Ricky in the side of his body, sending him stumbling towards the wall next to him. Chihiro squealed as Yukari moved themselves aside in time before Ricky could accidentally collide against them.

Asako quickly takes the opportunity to run over to Ricky and swings her fist towards him. Ricky barely turns his head before her fist collided against his cheek. Asako proceeds to punch Ricky a few times before Yukari suddenly grabs her arm. Asako growls as she turns to Yukari and kicks her on the side of her torso, knocking her and Chihiro down. Chihiro cried as she falls onto the metal floor with Yukari, with the cuffs around her wrist and the desk leg preventing her from lying on her back. Asako turns back to Ricky, grabs the back of his hair and slams his face against the wall. Before she could do it a second time, Ricky suddenly knocks his elbow onto Asako's abdomen, causing her to groan and bend over. Ricky holds up his fist which collided against Asako's nose, causing her to release his hair and sent stumbling backwards, clumsily knocking against the desk.

Ricky lets out a yell as he whirled about and grabs Asako's face, throwing her down and slamming the back of her head onto the desk. Asako swings her fist up and hits him at the side of his head, knocking him to the side and releasing her.

Asako quickly gets up and punches Ricky across his cheeks a few times. Ricky retaliates by delivering a powerful uppercut onto her abdomen, causing her to gasp in pain. Ricky swings his fist, colliding it against Asako's left cheek which sends her rolling over to the floor.

As Asako got up, Ricky charges over to her and punches her face a few times before finishing it off with a powerful uppercut underneath her chin. As her arms hang limply at her sides, Asako stood where she is for a few seconds before she closes her eyelids and collapses onto the floor.

When the fight is over, Yukari helped carry Chihiro up from the floor and sat her back down on the chair.

"A-arigatou." Chihiro murmured.

Yukari smiles and bows her head. "You're welcome. But it's time for you to answer my questions."

Chihiro watched as Yukari removes her wig and glasses. She gasps and widens her eyes in shock as she realized the true identity of her interrogator.

"Y-Y-Yukino-sensei?!" Chihiro cried incredulously.

"Yes. It's me." Yukari replied as she wipes off whatever remaining red paint on her face with her handkerchief. "I know what you and Aizawa did at the power station last night. And I want you to be truthful and honest with me. Why did you and Aizawa do it? And who else is involved in this?"

Chihiro bit down on her lower lip as tears form in her eyes. "Yukino-sensei, I'm so sorry! I never wanted to steal anything, but Aizawa and I were pleaded to do so, by Wataru!"

"Wataru?" Yukari uttered, surprised to hear a familiar name that came flooding back to her memories. "Wataru is also behind this?!"

"Yes!" Chihiro nodded as her tears begin rolling down her cheeks. "He brought us to some warehouse behind Sasazuka Park where we meet his crew, and then asked me and Aizawa to perform the heist with them! And after we did, Wataru and Aizawa left me behind to get arrested!"

"Why did Wataru order you and Aizawa to steal lanthanum from the power station? What does he need it for?" Ricky asked Chihiro as he gets out a clear zipper bag from his pocket.

"I don't know why he wants the lanthanum for. All he said to us was that they want to gather up supplies and materials." Chihiro replied as Ricky kneels down to pick up the parts of the gun which Yukari scattered all over the floor.

"Do you know where he and Aizawa headed off to?" Yukari asked.

"I don't know where or anything else, I swear!" Chihiro bawled unhappily before wailing in sorrow and remorse.

"I guess this means she was just dragged into this and doesn't know anything about Hassan." Ricky said to Yukari as he closes his bag after picking up all of the parts. Yukari nods her head as she gently pats Chihiro on her back.

" _Caster, did you manage to gather any important information from Chihiro?" Saber asked._

"No, I didn't. She is just a minor collaborator to the heist." Yukari responded as she and Ricky placed their fingers on their earpieces.

"But we did manage to catch ourselves a potential accomplice to our target." Ricky added, turning his head back to the motionless assassin lying on the floor. "We'll take her with us and interrogate her instead."

" _I can hardly wait. Meet us back at the hotel." Saber ordered._

"Aye." Ricky said before he and Yukari sign off. He gets up and walks over to where he landed before. He looks up and calls out to Illya, "Alright Berserker, give Caster her new clothes."

"Hai!" Illya cheerfully replied from inside the chute before dropping down a plastic bag containing an identical dark brown wig and light pink suit for Yukari to put on. Ricky catches the bag and places it on the desk as Yukari removes the bag of paint from her forehead and takes off her wig and suit.

As Ricky carries the unconscious assassin up from the floor, Chihiro begged her former teacher as she clings onto her arm with her free hand, "Yukino-sensei, please help me! If you do, I promise I'll never do anything bad again! I'll change for the better, I swear!" Chihiro pleaded as she looks up at Yukari with tearstained eyes.

After putting on her new wig, Yukari smiled tenderly at Chihiro before wiping off the tears from her eyes and stroking her hair. "Promise me you'll be a good girl from now on." She said softly to her.

Chihiro could only stare wordlessly at her former teacher as she gently removes her hand from her arm and puts on her suit and glasses. Ricky stored Yukari's old clothes and the torn bag of paint into the plastic bag and hands it over to Illya above him. After Illya takes the bag, Ricky climbs onto a chair and carries Asako up by her arms. As he holds the assassin up, Illya grabs Asako and pulls her up into the chute. Ricky jumps up and crawls through the chute before turning around and closes the metal panel. When the room looks seemingly back to normal, Yukari casually walks over to the door. She turned and gave Chihiro one final smile before opening the door.

Yukari steps out of the room and closes the door, leaving Chihiro behind to bury her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably with guilt and regret.

* * *

Aizawa moans and groggily opens her eyes as she regains consciousness. She slowly lifts her head up and takes a look around her surroundings. As her vision became clearer, she realized that she is currently in a small room, being shined dimly by a single light bulb hung at the ceiling. What surprised her most was Wataru, sitting on a wooden chair in front of her with a metal baseball bat in his hand.

"Ohayo Aizawa." Wataru greeted flatly.

Aizawa flinched at the sight of her former boyfriend. As she does, she looks down and realized that her wrists and arms are tied to the arms of the wooden chair she is currently sitting on by ropes. Her ankles and legs are also restrained to the legs of the chair, completely making her immobilized.

"W-w-what are you doing to me?" Aizawa asked nervously as she looks back up at Wataru.

As if her question is being answered, the door behind Wataru opened, revealing three figures. Wataru gets up and moves himself and his chair aside, allowing the three figures to approach Aizawa.

"Good afternoon, Hassan-sama." Wataru greeted as he bowed solemnly to the figure in the middle.

Aizawa widens her eyes and drops her jaw in horror as she gazes at the three figures in front of her. Two of them are the same thugs who worked alongside her and Wataru during last night's heist. But the person in the middle is who intimidates her the most. He is a bald man with a white mask that conceals his face. He is tall and muscular, towering over Aizawa, and only dressed in a large tattered loincloth around his waist, black pants underneath it, black boots and has brown bandages wrapped around his forearms.

"So this is the girl who you wish to recruit, but showed resilience towards us?" Hassan asked Wataru coldly as he places his hands behind his back.

"Yes sir. I apologize for my failure in convincing her to become one of us. We are running short on staff in accelerating our production of the Od serum for Matou Industries, so I thought having her and her friends onboard would be beneficial for us." Wataru said apologetically.

"Od serum? Matou Industries? What is going on here?!" Aizawa cried in bewilderment.

"Shut up, bitch!" The female thug shouted as she gave a punch across Aizawa's right cheek, causing her to howl in pain.

"It's alright, Wataru. At least we have required enough lanthanum to continue our production. You have done well." Hassan said to Wataru.

"Thank you, but what should we do with her?" Wataru asked.

Hassan turns back to Aizawa, who stared back at him in mortified horror, as blood dripped from the right side of her lips. "Since she and her friends now know of our activities, eliminate her. Just like what I've ordered Asako to do with her other friends." He said to Wataru.

Aizawa's eyes widened in shock upon learning the fate of her friends. "T-t-they're dead?" She realized aloud.

"Yes. I just sent my assistant to go to the police station to assassinate your friend Chihiro Kuze. She has probably finished the job now." Hassan said coldly to Aizawa.

Aizawa lowers her head as tears pooled in her eyes. "Chihiro…is dead…because of me…this…this is all my…" Before she could finish her sentence, Aizawa had been consumed by incredible amount of regret and sorrow that she began sobbing in inconsolable grief, mourning over the death of her best friend.

Hassan snorted at Aizawa's pathetic display before turning around and makes his departure. "You may choose to end her life slowly, just like what we did to the guy who forgot to inform us sooner that we were running low in lanthanum." He said to Wataru and the thugs malevolently.

"Yes, sir." Wataru replied. As Hassan leaves the room and closes the door behind him, Wataru places himself in front of Aizawa while one of the thugs pulls over a tool cart.

Aizawa looks up and sniffled as more tears roll down her cheeks. "Wataru, please…don't do this…" She managed to choke out, begging her former boyfriend to spare her life.

"Aizawa, do you know why I've never hit you before?" Wataru asked with a dark glare. "And no, it's not because you were my girlfriend."

"I…I…" That was all Aizawa could reply before Wataru interrupted her.

"BECAUSE YOU ARE THE MOST FUCKING PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING I'VE EVER MET IN MY LIFE!" Wataru bellowed as he delivers a powerful horizontal swing of his bat across Aizawa's left cheek.

Aizawa lets out an agonizing shriek that can be heard outside of the room. Wataru lowers his bat and cups Aizawa's chin, turning her head and forcing her to look at him in the eye. "Every single fucking time you had a problem, whether if it's school or with your family, you only know how to throw a temper tantrum and rely on me to solve your god damn problems for you! And every time you asked me for help, the more hatred I harbor towards you because of how fucking pitiful you are. You truly are a bitch who deserves scorn from everyone. Your family, everyone here, everyone back in high school, and especially me." Wataru said diabolically.

Aizawa sees her former boyfriend extending out his hand. To her horror, she sees the thug taking an electric drill from the cart and placing it on his hand. Wataru tosses his bat aside as he backed away from Aizawa. As Wataru turns on the tool, Aizawa could only sob in horror as she hears the screeching sound of the drill spinning uncontrollably.

Wataru looks back at Aizawa with his lips forming into a sick, wicked grin. "But now…I finally get to let out all of my anger and hatred towards you that has been building up inside me, for the last five years!"

Without warning, Wataru thrusts the drill down into Aizawa's left foot with blood furiously squirting out of it. Aizawa immediately lets out an ear-piercing, agonizing shriek as she throws her head back and trembled in extremely surging amounts of pain.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

"Ugh!"

Asako groaned as water splashed onto her face, waking her up from her slumber. As she slowly opens her eyes, she sees Saber, Ricky, Chulainn and Shirou standing right in front of her with their eyes narrowed.

"Well, well, it's about time you've woken up." Ricky said as he places the bucket down.

Asako tried to move around, but she couldn't. She looked down to see that her arms are placed behind the back of the chair she is placed on and could feel her wrists being tied by ropes. Ropes are also being wrapped around her upper body and legs, completely restraining her. A single thick rope that is attached to a large metal hook above her is tied around her waist, dangling and rocking her side-to-side in the air. The assassin soon realized that they are actually in a construction site with her captors dangling her with a large hook and crane sticking out at the third floor of the unfinished building.

Asako looks back at her captors and inquired, "What do you want from me?"

"We know you are an accomplice of the wanted mercenary known as Hassan-i-Sabbah." Saber said sternly as she folds her arms.

"How do you know?" Asako asked.

"We did some research on you while you were asleep." Saber replied. "Your name is Asako, a loyal assistant to our target. Both of you were former members of the military, but later turn into mercenaries, committing bombings and assassinations throughout Asia. While Hassan-i-Sabbah gets the credit for the attacks, you also helped out in eliminating targets for him whenever necessary. And now, you two were hired by Matou Industries to oversee the production of the Od serum."

Asako chuckled. "I'm impressed you know so much about me and Hassan. And yes, we volunteered to help Matou Industries in fulfilling their dream to distribute the Od serum to the world. After the pain and torture which Hassan and I went through during our time being used as experimental subjects in the military, the Od serum will finally help us deliver the divine punishment on our tormentors and the government who hire them. We believe in Matou Industries' dream in creating a new world for all humankind, where justice triumphs over the evil and corrupt."

Ricky yawned in response. "We appreciate the fan fiction of yours, but it's time for us to get down to business."

"Where is Hassan's hideout? Answer me!" Saber demanded.

Asako laughed. "I've underestimate you guys in combat. But you will never get anything out of me." She said.

Chulainn chuckled as he places his hand on the left side of his hip. "That's what they all say to us." He replied with a smirk.

Asako looks down at the ground below her. She chuckled amusingly as she turns back to her captors. "If you are going to make me talk through fear, at least try hanging me up from a far greater height than this."

"If fear doesn't work, perhaps pain will." Saber said flatly before Shirou draws out his sniper rifle and aims at the rope that is holding up the assassin.

"Huh? Wait!" Asako shouted with her eyes widened in shock as Shirou fires a shot. As the bullet cuts through the rope, Asako finds herself plummeting through the air and landed on the flat concrete floor below, breaking the chair and several bones in her body in the process.

"AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Asako shrieked in agony. The fall may not have killed her, but it definitely left her lying on the ground in a helpless state. She gave a few grunts of pain as Illya and Yukari walk up to her side.

"Don't test our patience, assassin." Illya said, glaring down at Asako with her hands placed on both sides of her hip. "Especially my friend here who is not very happy right now. You may have failed to kill Chihiro, but you did kill two of her former students the night before."

"Oh? So those boys I killed were your former students too?" Asako muttered as she looks up at Yukari.

"Yes. While you were out cold, we went investigating the warehouse which your friend Wataru took my former students to, and we found two of them dead, buried in a garbage dump outside. I will never forgive you for what you did to them." Yukari said, quivering with rage.

"It's a shame that I have to kill them. They did know our activities." Asako replied. Yukari grits her teeth as her brows furrowed and her fists trembled. Asako smiled in sick satisfaction underneath her mask. "Yes, the anger in your eyes. Are you now planning to kill me to avenge your fallen students?"

Yukari closed her lips and her fists stop shaking. "No." She shook her head. "I won't kill you. But she would."

Asako soon felt the ground trembling. She turned to the other side and her eyes widened in shock again. Slowly approaching towards her is a large dump truck driven by Rin, and Asako could see its gigantic right front tire rolling towards her head.

"W-w-what are you doing?!" Asako cried in horror. She wished she could get out of the way, but she can't because of her broken back.

"Making you talk." Yukari said icily as she folds her arms.

"You guys are monsters!" Asako shouted at Illya and Yukari as she turned back to them. "Just as insane as the people who experimented on me and Hassan!"

"You gotta be insane to make the insane talk, right?" Illya shrugged her shoulders.

The dump truck came to a stop when its right front tire is only an inch away from Asako's head. The assassin flinched as she could feel the rough texture of the tire pressed against her right cheek. Saber, Shirou, Chulainn and Ricky walk up to Asako and stand beside Yukari and Illya.

"Now unless you want to keep your head intact, tell us. Where…is…Hassan?" Saber asked coldly.

"Never!" Asako growled aggressively. But shortly after, she lets out an agonizing scream as the dump truck moved less than an inch forward and the assassin could feel the weight of its giant tire rolling on top of her skull. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Oops. For a brief moment there, I accidentally let go of the pedal. My bad!" Rin shouted sarcastically as her head sticks out through the side window.

"WHERE IS HE?!" Saber bellowed at the assassin as she continued squealing in pain.

"YOYOGI 3-CHOME! YOYOGI 3-CHOME!" Asako shouted in response.

Saber holds up her hand, signaling Rin to stop. Rin obliged as she pulls up the lever, bringing the dump truck to a complete halt, but its right front tire stays still on top of Asako's head. Saber kneels down to Asako's level, speaking to her face-to-face. "The exact location. Spit it out."

"There's an old apartment building at Yoyogi 3-chome-55 in Shibuya. It looks like an abandoned apartment building from the outside, but inside and at the bottom floors lies our factory." Asako breathed heavily, fearing for her life.

Saber pulls out her smartphone and brings up the map of Yoyogi 3-chome. She shows the screen to Asako and demanded her, "Where is it?"

Asako lifts her head up as Saber now holds the phone in front of her left hand. She struggled to lift her left hand up and places her finger on the exact spot where the factory is. Saber looks back at the screen, seeing the flashing red dot where Asako had pressed on.

"Thank you. That wasn't so bad now, was it?" Saber got up and turned to her teammates. "Let's go!"

"Wait? You're going to leave me like this?!" Asako cried incredulously as she helplessly watched Saber, Ricky, Shirou, Chulainn, Yukari and Illya making their departure.

Rin gets out from the dump truck and walks over to Asako. "Oh don't worry." Rin sneered as she stood beside her. "I just called the police. They'll be here real soon to pick you up. But I can't guarantee they'll bring you somewhere comfortable." She breaks the smartphone in her gloved hands like a twig and drops it onto the ground before following the rest of her team from behind.

"Hey! Stop! Come back!" Asako shouted in despair, despite Saber and her team completely ignoring her pleas. "You can't leave me here alone!"

* * *

_**Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan** _

Rin drove her team through the neighborhood of Yoyogi. They used the same van which Wataru and his crew drove to the power station the night before, which they later abandoned it at the warehouse when their heist was done.

The van came to a stop when they arrived at the apartment building that Asako had told them earlier. The exterior of the building looks worn down with its windows broken and its paint faded away over time. It is clearly abandoned by the former tenants that have since moved out.

"This is the exact location." Saber glances at the map in her phone before putting it away into her pocket. "Once we get inside, our main objective is to find Hassan-i-Sabbah and make him tell us where Zouken Matou is hiding now."

Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Illya and Chulainn nod their heads as they arm themselves with their respective weapons.

Saber turned to Yukari, who sat in front of her. "Yukari, there's no doubt that things will get messy, and you have already been through so much since coming here. You can choose not to come with us, and I won't force you."

Yukari shook her head with her eyes narrowed in determination. "No. Aizawa is in that building. As her teacher, it is my responsibility to get her out of there." She replied firmly.

Saber nodded before pulling out her Glock 17 pistols from her pockets. She slides back her pistols before saying to her team, "Everyone…let's move."


	22. Tokyo, Part 4

"AAAHHH! NNNGGGHHH! AAAUUUGGGHHH!"

Aizawa lowers her head and breathes heavily after Wataru finished delivering a few horizontal swings across her face. Blood dripped from the sides of her mouth and splashed onto floor between her feet.

"What's the matter, slut? Had enough?" Wataru chuckled as he places his bat behind his back. "Too bad, because when I'm finally done torturing you, you're going to die right here. All alone and helpless." The thugs sniggered as they stood behind him and had been watching Aizawa's torment in amusement.

Aizawa struggled to look up at Wataru, with her once beautiful face now covered with gashes and bruises. Her uniform shirt is ripped off, leaving her dressed only in her bra and pants and showing off the bruises of various sizes that are all over her hands, arms, chest and stomach, caused by Wataru's brutal swinging of his bat. Her once long and wavy hair is now short and uneven as Wataru used a penknife earlier to slash it off while he was yanking her head back by pulling her hair. Within an hour of merciless beating, Wataru had transformed Aizawa from a beautiful young woman into an unrecognizable being whose life is hanging by a thread.

Wataru sneered at Aizawa in sick satisfaction. "Oh Aizawa…always making yourself beautiful in front of everyone like some sort of pampered beauty queen…" Wataru snorted in disgust. "Just look at yourself now." He tosses his bat aside while the male thug takes out a wrench from the tool cart and passes it to Wataru. "So, are you ready for round 5?"

With whatever remaining strength she had left inside her, Aizawa managed to utter hoarsely to her former boyfriend.

"I…hate…you…"

Wataru and the thugs responded by throwing their heads back in maniacal laughter.

"You hate me? For what I'm doing to you? Oh what a surprise!" Wataru laughed again as Aizawa gave a sad whimper. With a malevolent smirk, Wataru leans forward and speak to Aizawa face to face, "Yeah well, guess what? I hate you too."

Aizawa sniffled as Wataru chuckled, "In fact, nobody ever likes you. Do you ever thought about that? You think you're some sort of queen when in reality, you're just a skank. You treated everyone around you as tools. You treated me as a tool whenever you have problems. You treated Chihiro as a tool because you have no one else to talk to. Your parents don't like you. Nobody in school ever likes you. I especially don't like you. Face facts, nobody likes you. And you know what else?"

Wataru whispered diabolically into her ear, "No one cares that you're going to die, you fucking whore."

Aizawa sobbed as she lowers her head in hopelessness. Wataru spoke nothing but the honest truth. She had treated everyone she knew in her life for granted, and now she is getting the horrible punishment that she rightfully deserves. With one last sob, Aizawa closes her eyes and seal her lips, ready to embrace the next round of her painful torture. Wataru smirked maliciously as he stares at his pitiful victim. He slowly turned, swings back his wrench and-

"Guys! This is bad!" A thug shouted as he burst opens the door. Wataru and the two thugs whirled about, staring back at the man at the doorway dumbfounded.

"What's going on?!" Wataru asked, annoyed that his pleasure of torturing Aizawa had been interrupted.

"Seven guys, probably police, I don't know! They're in our building, shooting us down!" The thug cried in horror. Aizawa gasped as she lifts her head up with her eyes widened.

Wataru snarled as he tosses his wrench aside. "God fucking dammit! We've been found!" He turned to the other two thugs and shouted, "Do you guys suddenly shut down your fucking brains? Get out there and take the intruders down!"

The thugs nod their heads frantically and run out of the room in panic. Wataru turns back to Aizawa and growls at her. "I'll finish you off later." He muttered before turning back to his front and nonchalantly walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Aizawa lowers her head and sniffled, completely unsure what is going to happen to her.

* * *

Illya cackled maniacally as she mercilessly fires her minigun. As she slowly turns to her right, several bullets shot through the thugs in front of her and they fell flat onto their own pools of blood. Some of Illya's bullets also shot through the wooden crates stacked at the right side of the room, causing several canisters to fall out. The canisters hit the floor and the serum leak through the holes that are penetrated through its metallic layer.

"She's destroying the serum!" One of thugs yelled as he hides behind a pillar with his rifle. "Somebody stop-ACK!" The thug was cut off when a bullet shot through the back of the pillar and out from his chest. The thugs who are hiding behind a nearby pillar panicked as they watch their ally slump to the ground.

At the doorway, Shirou hides behind the wall and reloads his sniper rifle after firing his last bullet through one of the pillars. When they hear Illya stop firing her minigun, he turns his head to Saber, who is standing behind the other side of the doorway with Ricky and Chulainn. She nods her head as she holds up her Glocks. Shirou turns to Rin and Yukari who are standing beside him and signaled them to get inside the room. As Illya drops her emptied minigun onto the floor, the thugs get out from their hiding spots and aim their rifles at the girl.

"You're dead, bitch!" One of the thugs shouted. But before he could pull the trigger, Saber came out from her hiding spot and shot a bullet through his forehead, sending him falling to the floor.

"Open fire!" One of the thugs shouted and they mercilessly fire their weapons at the intruders.

Chulainn, Illya, Shirou, Rin and Yukari quickly run over to the left side of the room and hide behind the metal shelves containing canisters of the various elements that are required to create the serum. Saber and Ricky charge towards the thugs head on while evading the bullets.

When Saber goes over to the nearest thug, she wraps her arm around his neck and places him in front of her. She fires one of her Glocks at four thugs in front of her, sending them falling to the floor.

Ricky punches a thug's face right into his nose, sending him sprawling through the floor and causing him to throw his rifle into the air. Ricky grabs the rifle and sees three thugs coming out from behind the doorway in front of him and Saber. The thugs fire their rifles and Ricky evades the bullet by rolling over the floor. As he gets up, Ricky holds up the rifle and his revolver and fires at the thugs, shooting all of them down.

One thug came out from behind a metal shelf and fires his rifle at Saber. Saber quickly turns and holds the thug in front of her and the bullets ended up shooting into her human shield. When the thug ran out of bullets, Saber tosses her lifeless human shield aside and fires a single bullet through his forehead. She turns to the doorway and sees several more thugs running up the stairs with their rifles.

"I got this!" Chulainn said as he runs over and throws a grenade at the incoming thugs. The thugs stop when the grenade knocks against the forehead of one of them, sending him falling and rolling down the stairs. One of the thugs grabs the grenade as it lands on his hand and his eyes widened in horror.

"Grenade! It's going to blow up!" The thug shouted. The others scream as they move out of the way. But shortly after, the thug looks down and notices something odd. There is a safety pin still attached through the top of the grenade in his hand. A grin takes form on his face and he said, "Hey, wait a minute! The pin is still inside!"

The thugs turn back to him and realize that he is right. The thugs laughed in amusement and also feeling a sense of relief that the grenade isn't going to-

_**BANG-BOOOOOOOOMMMM!** _

While the men were distracted, Ricky fires a bullet at the grenade, causing a huge explosion. Ricky, Saber and Chulainn close their eyes and turn their heads back as they felt the wind blowing through their hair and clothes. When the smoke is cleared, the three turn back to their front and see the stairs now covered with explosion marks and dismembered limbs.

"Yippe ki-yay, motherfuckers." Ricky said and he reloads his revolver.

"Seriously? You forgot to pull it out?" Saber chided Chulainn.

"I guess that booze we had last night was stronger than we thought?" Chulainn smiled sheepishly at Saber as he shrugs his shoulders.

Saber shakes her head as she slides back her Glocks. Shirou, Rin, Illya and Yukari place the proximity mines onto the crates and shelves before running over to the others.

"Come on, let's go!" Saber ordered her teammates. Everyone make their way through the doorway and run down the stairs. As they head deeper into the factory, Illya pulls out her remote and presses the button, causing all the mines they have planted to explode, destroying all the serum and the ingredients to create them that were in the room.

* * *

When they arrive at the bottom floor, Saber signals Shirou, Rin and Yukari to take the left while she and the others go to the right.

As the team went their separate ways, Shirou, Rin and Yukari run down the hallway and turn to their right. They find themselves entering another hallway and notice a door at the side.

"You two go on ahead. I'll investigate this room." Shirou instructed Rin and Yukari. The two women nodded and run further down the hallway.

Shirou goes to the door and opens it. He enters the room and finds even more crates neatly stacked and placed next to each other. He goes over to one of the crates and opens it, revealing more canisters of Od serum inside it. Shirou grimaced as he tosses the lid aside. He grabs a proximity mine out from his backpack and places it on top of the canisters. He turned as he places his finger on his earpiece.

"Guys, I've planted a-" As soon as Shirou steps through the doorway, a fist collided against the side of his forehead, sending him back into the room and stumbling onto the floor. After landing on his back, Shirou lifts his head up and sees Wataru walking over to him.

As Wataru stood at the doorway, he looks down at Shirou with a cold glare and cracks his knuckles. Shirou wipes off the blood from the side of his forehead and looks down at his bloodied fingers. A smirk takes form on his face and he looks back at Wataru.

"Heh. You're good." Shirou said. He stood up from the ground, throws his backpack and sniper rifle aside and gets into his fighting stance. The two men gaze at each other for a few moments before Wataru delivers the first attack. He swings his fist at Shirou, who blocks it with his right arm. But Wataru suddenly lifts his leg up and kicks him in the abdomen, sending Shirou stumbling backwards.

Wataru charges at Shirou and delivers a series of punches at him. Shirou quickly blocks all of his attacks with his arms and elbows, but Wataru finishes it by lifting his knee up and kicking him in the abdomen again. As Shirou bends over, Wataru brings down his fists and slams onto his back, sending him falling to the floor. Wataru jumps in the air and tries to stomp him, but Shirou rolls over to his side.

Shirou gets up and returns to his fighting stance. Wataru swings his leg diagonally at Shirou and the latter grabs it. As Wataru falls to the ground, he uses his free leg to sweep Shirou's feet off from the ground. Shirou falls onto the floor on his back and Wataru gets up to bring down his fist on his face. Shirou quickly grabs his wrist and the two stayed at a stalemate as he tries to push Wataru back.

Suddenly, Shirou curls his free left hand into a fist and swings it. He punches Wataru across his left cheek. Wataru groans as he gets off of him and lands on the floor beside Shirou. As Shirou and Wataru get up from the ground simultaneously, the latter swings his left fist at his opponent. Shirou blocks his punch with his left arm, and Wataru swings his right leg diagonally at him. Shirou deflects the kick with his right arm and swiftly delivers an uppercut underneath Wataru's jaw with his right fist.

Wataru yells in pain as the punch sends him stumbling backwards. Before he could fall over, Shirou grabs his head, brings it down and lifts his left knee up. His kneecap collides against Wataru's face, breaking his nose in the process. As Wataru backs away, Shirou grabs his collar. Wataru responds by grabbing his wrist, but Shirou retaliates by delivering another uppercut to his abdomen. Wataru yells again as he releases Shirou's wrist. Shirou tosses Wataru over his shoulder and the muscular man is sent slamming onto the floor.

Wataru rolls over and gets up from the ground again. Shirou goes over to him and delivers several punches at him. Wataru blocks all of his attacks with his muscular arms and punches Shirou across his face. As Shirou backs away, Wataru tried to lift his knee up to his chest. Shirou quickly deflects his knee away and Wataru swings his fists several times at him. Shirou dodge them by moving side to side and he soon delivers a punch across Wataru's face. Wataru quickly turns back to Shirou and swings his fist at him yet again. But this time, Shirou grabs his arm, jumps up, wraps his legs around his neck and throws him to the floor. As Shirou pins Wataru down, he gave a hard twist to his arm.

_CRACK!_

Wataru lets out an agonizing scream as he felt his arm snapped. Shirou removes his legs and rolls away from his opponent. He gets up, grabs his sniper rifle from floor and runs out of the room.

Wataru struggles to get up with only his uninjured arm. By the time he stood up and lifts his head up, he sees Shirou aiming his sniper rifle at the proximity mine he had planted on the crate. Wataru widens his eyes in horror and shouted as he extends out his uninjured arm to him, "NO!"

Shirou pulls the trigger and fires a bullet at the mine. The mine exploded and it sends Shirou falling to the floor. He gets up and watches the room now being consumed with thick clouds of black smoke.

" _Archer? What happened? Are you alright? Answer me!"_ Rin calls out to Shirou through their earpieces.

Shirou places his finger on his earpiece and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. One room of Od serum has been destroyed."

Shirou could hear Rin sigh in relief.  _"That's good to know. For me, I also found a room full of serum, took out some crooks along the way and ready to plant my mine."_

"Good. See you later." Shirou said before removing his finger from his earpiece.

* * *

After disconnecting herself from Shirou, Rin looks down at the beaten thugs lying on the floor unconscious. Rin snorted and takes out a proximity mine from her backpack.

As she proceeds to plant the mine on one of the crates, the two thugs who were originally with Wataru are hiding behind the doorway. The female thug nods her head to the other thug, signaling him to take her down as she holds up her rifle. The man nods back as he tightens his grip around his pipe.

The man quietly enters the room and slowly walks up to Rin who firmly placed the mine onto the top of the crate. The man holds up his pipe and delivers an overhead strike onto the back of Rin's head.

To his surprise, Rin swiftly moves to the side as the man brings down his pipe and ends up hitting on the mine. Rin goes behind the man and wraps her arms around his neck. The female thug came out from behind the doorway and fires her rifle at Rin. Rin quickly turns herself and the man to the female thug and her bullets landed onto her ally instead.

The female thug gasps and drops her rifle onto the floor, realizing the blunder she had made. Rin draws out her M1911 pistol and fires a bullet at the side of the man's head. As the man collapses onto the floor, Rin aims her pistol at the female thug who backs away with her eyes wide in horror.

"No! Stay back!" The female thug pleaded while holding up her hands. Rin lowers her pistol in response. Thinking that she had lowered her defenses, the female thug proceeds to pull out a pistol from her pocket.

As soon as she does however, Rin swiftly holds up her pistol again and fires a bullet through her hand. The female thug screamed in agony as she drops her gun and gazes at the wound on her hand. When she heard a click, the female thug looks up and sees Rin aiming her pistol at her head while staring back at her coldly. The female thug made one final scream before Rin pulls the trigger and shoots a bullet through her forehead. After the thug slams against the wall and drops to the floor with her head hung, Rin walks up to her lifeless body and snorted.

"Matou Industries scum." Rin muttered. She turns back to the room, holds up her pistol and fires a bullet at the mine she had planted. The mine exploded, destroying all of the contents that were inside the room, including the thugs.

* * *

Yukari finds herself standing in front of a door after reaching the end of the hallway. She opens it and slowly enters the room. To her alarm, she finds a familiar figure sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, beaten, tortured and losing lots of blood.

"Aizawa!" Yukari cried in mortified horror. She runs over to her former student and begins untying the ropes around her wrists and the arms of the chair. Aizawa moans as she slowly wakes up. She lifts her head up and when her vision became clearer, she sees Yukari standing beside her, much to her surprise.

"Yu…Yukino?" Aizawa managed to say.

"Aizawa please. Don't speak right now." Yukari said firmly, never taking her eyes off from the ropes around Aizawa's wrists. After untying the ropes around her wrists, Yukari kneels down and takes a gulp, suppressing the urge to mutter under her breath when she sees the hole drilled through Aizawa's left foot.

As Yukari proceeds to untie the ropes around Aizawa's ankles and legs, her former student uttered, "Y-Yukino…you w-were right…I…s-should have list-"

"It's okay Aizawa. I know what you're going to say. I'm glad you realized your mistake. Just stay still as I release you." Yukari said. Aizawa remained silent as Yukari focuses on freeing her.

When the ropes around Aizawa's ankles and legs are untied, Yukari stood up and asked, "Can you get up and walk?"

"I'll…try…" Aizawa replied weakly. Her body trembled as she slowly gets up from the chair. She soon loses her balance and groans in pain as she tried to stand up with her injured foot. Thankfully, as she trips forward, Yukari quickly catches her and wraps her arm around her back and shoulders.

"Don't worry. I got you." Yukari assured as she carries her student up. "Come on, let's go."

As the two slowly trudge their way towards the doorway, Aizawa turns to her former teacher, "Yukino, how did you find me? Did you seriously come all the way here to rescue me?"

"My friends and I work together to find this place and stop what the people here are trying to do. And yes, at the same time, I came here to rescue you too." Yukari smiled at Aizawa. As they step out of the room, Shirou and Rin run up to them.

"Are you alright?" Rin asked Yukari in concern.

"I'm fine." Yukari replied, smiling at her teammates.

"You must be Aizawa." Shirou said to Aizawa with his eyes furrowed.

"How did you know? Are you friends of Yukino?" Aizawa asked. Shirou and Rin nod their heads in response.

"She's been hurt badly. I'm going to escort her out of the building." Yukari said to them.

"Alright. You do that while we go regroup with the others." Rin said.

After Shirou and Rin whirl about and run off, Yukari and Aizawa continue trudging their way down the hallway. Aizawa turns to Yukari, looking utterly perplexed. "Yukino, why did you go through all this trouble to find me?" She asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Yukari responded, smiling back at her. "You're my student. And as your teacher, it is my responsibility to help you."

* * *

Inside a large room, Hassan observes his men pushing the crates of Od serum that they still have into the back of their trucks. Knowing that their hideout has been discovered and invaded, Hassan decided it is best for them to retreat with the remaining crates that aren't destroyed yet. He cursed under his breath. The production of the serum was going smoothly at first, but not only does he still couldn't make contact with Asako, their hideout has been found somehow and this immediately caused the operations to come to a halt. Hassan feels frustrated that he would have report to Zouken Matou over the delay of their production for the second time in a row, causing his payment to be docked again.

"Keep moving!" Hassan shouted to the thugs as they are about to finish filling up one of the trucks. "They'll be here any minute!"

As if Hassan spoke of the devil, Saber kicks open the door at the corner of the room and fires her Glocks at everyone in her sight. Hassan runs away to safety while Saber managed to shoot down the thugs who were storing the crates into one of the trucks.

"Floor it!" The thug in the truck's passenger seat shouted to the driver, who was also involved in last night's heist. The driver starts the ignition and drives their way up the ramp to leave the building, even as the back doors of the truck are left opened.

Unfortunately, as soon as they begin to leave, Illya enters the room as well and laughs maniacally as she fires her minigun at the escaping truck. The crates in the back of the truck were destroyed and both the driver and the passenger had bullets shot through the back of their heads and bodies. Illya continued firing her minigun mercilessly until the truck exploded.

Three thugs run up to Saber and Illya from the side and fire their rifles at them. Saber and Illya quickly evade the bullets by rolling over the floor. As they do, Ricky and Chulainn enter the room and fire their guns at the three thugs. After killing the three thugs, two more of them run up to Ricky and Chulainn. Chulainn turns in time to block a punch from one of the thugs with his arm. The other thug tries to attack Chulainn while he is distracted, but Ricky delivers a powerful roundhouse kick to his chest, sending him sprawling through the floor.

As Saber gets up from the floor, she looks up and sees three more thugs running up to her with their rifles. She swiftly holds up one of her Glocks and fires a bullet through the chest of one of the thugs. The two remaining thugs fire their rifles at Saber. As she turns to her right and runs away from the lines of fire, Saber holds up her Glocks and fire back at the thugs, shooting both of them down. She slides through the floor and hides behind a nearby pile of the crates. She reloads her guns as five more thugs approach her.

Illya looks up and sees some thugs trying to escape with the crates by getting inside the back of one of the trucks. Illya quickly withdraws a grenade from her pocket, removes the pin and tosses it into the back of the truck just before the thugs close the doors. The truck explodes a second later.

After Chulainn punches another thug, one of them jumps onto him from behind and wraps his arms around his neck. The thug tightens his grip around his neck, trying to strangle him. Chulainn responded by delivering a powerful blow to his stomach with his elbow. As he felt the grip around his neck loosen, Chulainn grabs the thug by his greasy hair, tossing him over his shoulder and slamming him on the ground. He stomps his foot onto the thug's face, knocking him out unconscious.

Ricky fires his last bullet at a thug before running over to the pile of crates where Saber is hiding behind. The five thugs fire their rifles at the crates as they go near it. When Ricky finished reloading his revolver, he and Saber turn to each other and nod their heads. They turn around and kick down the pile of crates. The thugs clumsily fell onto the floor as the crates land on top of them. Ricky and Saber climb and run on top of the crates, going over their enemies. When they get off the last crate and land back on the floor, Ricky and Saber turn around as the five men push the crates off of them. As they get up, Ricky and Saber fire their guns and shoot all of them down.

One of the crates landed near Chulainn, who grabs it and smashes it onto the head of a thug who runs up to him. After the thug collapses to the floor, two more of them came out from behind a nearby pile of crates and fire their rifles at Chulainn. Chulainn holds the crate in front of him to shield himself from the bullets as he takes a few steps forward. He tosses the crate at one of the thugs and knocks him down. He draws out his rifle and fires at the other thug. The thug pushes the crate away as he tries to get up but a bullet suddenly shot into his shoulder. As the thug yells and falls back to the floor, Chulainn turns around to see Rin standing at the doorway beside Shirou while holding up her pistol. Rin and Chulainn nod their heads to each other before they and Shirou continue firing at the other thugs present in the room.

Illya fires her minigun at another truck. The truck soon exploded and the driver and passenger scream in agony as they jump out of the vehicle with their bodies engulfed in flames. She turns around and sees two muscular thugs running up to her. Illya tries to fire her weapon at them, only to realize that she has run out of bullets. The thugs chuckled as they aim their rifles at her. Illya laughs at them before throwing her minigun at them. The thugs gasp with their eyes widened as the minigun collided against their guts, surprised at how heavy her weapon actually is. As they drop their rifles and fall to the ground, Illya turns to her side and quickly punches a thug in his abdomen as he runs over to her. The thug yells in pain as he bends over and Illya grabs his head and kneed him underneath his chin. Illya jumps up and delivers a powerful kick onto his chest which sends him throwing his metal pipe into the air and falling to the floor on his back.

Illya catches the pipe just as the two muscular men get her minigun off of them. As they get up, Illya swings the pipe horizontally across one of the men's cheeks and he falls back to the floor. The other muscular man goes over to her but just as he pulls his fist back; Illya thrusts the pipe at his crotch, causing him to howl in agony as he bends over. Illya yells as she jumps up and delivers an overhead strike onto the top of the man's head with her pipe. As he falls to the floor, Illya looks back to the other muscular man just as he gets up. Illya slams the pipe onto the floor, supporting her as she jumps in the air and delivers a powerful kick that collides squarely against the man's nose, sending him falling back onto the floor like a bag of cement.

Illya smirks in satisfaction as she lands back on the floor. Her moment of triumph was soon interrupted when she suddenly whirled about, dodging a dagger that came flying through the air behind her and barely missing her head by an inch. Her eyes narrowed as she sees Hassan standing in the distance with two sharp daggers in his hands.

Hassan swiftly charges towards Illya and swings his daggers horizontally at her. Illya barely backs away in time but Hassan quickly lifts his leg up and kicks her in the stomach. Illya gasped in pain as she is sent rolling over to the floor. She struggles to get up as Hassan runs over to her again. Before Hassan could bring down his daggers onto her, Saber quickly runs over and tackles him to the ground.

"Go! Stop the others from getting away with the serum!" Saber yelled at Illya. Illya nods her head before getting up from the floor and runs off.

Hassan lifts his fist up and punches Saber across her face, getting her off of him as she rolls over the floor. Saber quickly recovers from the blow and she and Hassan get up. She draws out her Glocks at Hassan who immediately stood still. Her target laughs in amusement as he drops his daggers onto the floor.

"Go ahead. Shoot me." Hassan said amusingly as he spreads out his arms. "I have killed countless people across Asia. Deliver me the punishment that I deserve."

Saber snarled as she stood where she is. She knows Hassan is right. He had committed many assassinations and bombings across Asia with Asako. He is a serial killer who needs to be punished for the atrocities he had committed. However, she knows that now is not the time. For now, she needs to keep him alive to get the vital information she needs. She moves her Glocks away from her face and drops them onto the floor. Hassan chuckled in response.

"You don't have the will to do it." Hassan commented.

"No." Saber shakes her head. "It's because you don't deserve to go out the easy way."

Saber began unbuttoning her collar and removing her tie. She also removes her jacket and unbuttons the suit underneath it and tosses them aside, leaving her only dressed in her long-sleeved shirt, gloves, pants and shoes. Saber gets into her fighting stance, preparing to fight against her target head on.

Hassan chuckled again before tilting his head side to side. Saber could hear the cracks from his neck as he does it. Hassan cracks his knuckles and gets into his fighting stance as well. The two gaze at each other, calmly waiting for either of them to make the first move.

Hassan steps forward, causing Saber to back away. But this moment of distraction allows Hassan to deliver the first attack, by swinging his right leg diagonally at her. Saber blocks it with her arm before it hits the side of her head. Hassan puts down his leg and swings his left fist which successfully collides against the other side of Saber's head. Saber swiftly looks back at Hassan who now jumps up and throws his legs at her. Saber blocks his right leg with her arms, but Hassan uses his other leg to kick her in the chest.

Saber groans as she stumbles backwards while Hassan lands on the floor, rolls backwards and gets back up. Saber snarled as she looks up and charges at her opponent. She swings her fists a few times which Hassan blocks them with his arms. Saber lifts her right knee up which Hassan deflects it by swiping it away with his left hand, but she quickly swings her left leg diagonally, hitting Hassan at the side of his head. As he falls to the ground however, Hassan twirls to his left and uses his legs to sweep Saber off of her feet, causing her to trip and slam on the floor on her upper back.

Hassan gets up again and returns to his fighting stance. Saber groans again as she slowly gets up and rubs her upper back in pain. Before Saber could get back into her fighting stance however, Hassan moves forward and swings his left leg. Saber backs away and tries to deliver an uppercut with her left fist as she goes forward. Hassan swiftly grabs her left arm and swings his right fist, punching her across her face again. As she is distracted, Hassan lifts his right leg up, kicking her in the chest. As he releases her arm and Saber backs away, Hassan did a backward flip, kicking her underneath her jaw. When he lands on his feet, Hassan grabs Saber by her collar and tosses her over his shoulder, slamming her on the floor.

Saber yells in pain while Hassan laughs as he backs away. As she breathes heavily and looks up at her opponent, Hassan said to her mockingly, "Is that the best you can do?"

After catching her breath, Saber's brows furrowed. She gets up from the floor, turns around and removes the buttons from the tip of her sleeves. She removes her shirt, revealing her white tank top. As soon as she takes out her shirt, Hassan moves forward and tries to attack again. But Saber quickly throws her shirt over his head, blocking his sight.

Hassan swiftly throws her shirt away from his vision, but Saber quickly throws an uppercut punch to his gut. As Hassan bends over, Saber delivers two horizontal punches across both sides of his face. She lifts her knee up and collide it against the side of Hassan's nose. Both fighters back away from each other. Hassan felt blood trickling down from one of his nostrils and takes a moment to wipe it away.

The fighters get back into their stances and gaze intensively at each other for a few seconds. Hassan bends his body to the right, causing Saber to back away. He moves forward and throws his left fist at her, who quickly responds by grabbing his wrist. Hassan throws his other fist and Saber grabs his other wrist again. She firmly throws both wrists down, causing Hassan to groan as he felt his arms being stretched. As he finds himself stumbling towards her, Saber takes the opportunity to throw her head down onto Hassan's forehead. As if a sledgehammer had been thrown down onto his head, Hassan lets out an agonizing cry as he stumbles backwards. After dizzily tilting side to side for a moment, Hassan shakes his head frantically and looks back up at Saber, who boldly stares back at him and lifts her hand up, gesturing him to come forward.

Hassan growls furiously as he charges towards her. He proceeds to deliver a series of punches and kicks at Saber, who quickly blocks them with her arms. As Saber continues backing away and Hassan moving forward, they both slowly inch towards the mercenary's daggers that are lying on the floor.

When Hassan finds himself standing beside one of his daggers, he throws an uppercut punch at Saber, who backs away before his fist could hit her jaw. Hassan uses his left foot to sweep the dagger up into the air and grabs it with his left hand. He swings his dagger horizontally at Saber, who crouches down and uses her leg to sweep his feet off from the floor as she twirls around. As Hassan lands on the floor, he gets up and throws his dagger down at Saber, who quickly rolls over to the side.

As she gets up, Saber kicks the dagger off of Hassan's hand. Hassan groans as he felt Saber's foot colliding underneath his wrist, causing him to throw his dagger up into the air. Saber grabs it and stabs the dagger into the back of Hassan's shoulder as she kneels down. Hassan screams in agony as Saber backs away.

The mercenary snarls at her. He gets back up and removes the dagger off of him. He holds up the bloodied dagger in front of his face as he and Saber stare at each other once more. Hassan moves forwards and swings his dagger diagonally at Saber, who evades by tilting her body to the side. As she straightens herself back, she delivers a swift punch into Hassan's gut. Hassan bends over and Saber grabs the other dagger from the floor. She stabs him at the right side of his abdomen and Hassan lets out another agonizing scream as he drops his dagger and falls onto the floor in pain.

Saber grabs the dagger he had dropped and stood above him. Hassan looks back up at Saber who gave him a cold glare.

"Do it! Finish me!" Hassan yelled at her. Saber lifts the dagger up and brings it down onto Hassan's head.

Hassan opens his eyes five seconds later after realizing that he is still alive. He lifts his head up and widens his eyes to see Saber stabbing the dagger through the concrete floor just less than an inch away from his forehead. He watches as Saber removes the dagger from the floor as she stood up.

"Like I said, you don't deserve the easy way out." Saber said to him icily and tosses the dagger away. Hassan soon felt his arms being grabbed and placed behind his back. He turns his head to see Ricky kneeling down behind him and placing the handcuffs around his wrists.

Saber turns around and sees several lifeless bodies lying on the floor and all of the trucks present in the room are destroyed and burning in flames. Chulainn, Illya, Shirou and Rin are rounding up the thugs who are still alive. The thugs are kneeling down on the floor in a horizontal row and placing their hands on the back of their heads. As they aim their guns at them, Chulainn turns to Saber, winks his eye and gave a thumbs-up to her.

Saber smirked at Chulainn before turning back to Hassan, who looks back up at her with a mixture of fear and surprise. She kneels down and removes the dagger from the side of his abdomen, causing him to groan. She narrows her eyes and places the tip of the dagger next to his left cheek as she coldly said to him, "Now, you are going to cooperate with us."

* * *

Yukari and Aizawa arrived at the first floor after reaching the top of the stairs. Aizawa widens her eyes in awe to find that both sides of the room are covered with black explosion marks. The crates are destroyed and the metal shelves are damaged and left lying on the floor. Bits of the canisters that used to contain the Od serum are scattered across the floor.

"You and your friends did all of this?" Aizawa uttered incredulously.

Yukari chuckled. "Hard to believe, but yes."

"What exactly are you doing now after you left the school?" Aizawa inquired.

"It's a secret." Yukari winks an eye at her.

"Heh. It's alright. I don't deserve to know, for I've never been kind to you anyways." Aizawa replied. She howled in agony as the pain coming from the wound on her left foot is too excruciating for her. Yukari hushed soothingly to her as they stagger over to the nearest pillar. She gently sets Aizawa down on the floor and against the pillar. She pushes away the strands of hair in front of Aizawa's eyes as she takes a closer look at the bruises all over her face. Aizawa idly watch as Yukari takes out her handkerchief and gently wipes off the dried blood from her face.

"Yukino, I'm so sorry." Aizawa said as fresh tears form in her eyes. "I never gave you anything in return for all the appreciation you've given me and the class…yet you still continue to care for me."

Yukari sighs as she puts away her handkerchief and looks at Aizawa straight in the eye. "Aizawa, I don't care if you hated me back then or anytime. No matter what the relationship between you and me is, I'll always look out for you, because I am your teacher."

"Yukino…" Aizawa managed to choke out as her tears pour out.

Their moment of peace was soon interrupted by an evil laugh. Aizawa gasped in horror as she recognized the voice. Yukari turns around with her brows furrowed, seeing Wataru entering the room, bending over with his broken arm dangling at his side. He holds a baseball bat in his uninjured hand and his right eye is squinting as the right half of his face had been terribly scarred by the explosion of the proximity mine.

A huge grin takes form on his face and his other eye widened as Wataru said to Yukari amusingly, "Miss Yukino! What a pleasant surprise to see you here!"

Yukari's face distorts into a scowl. "Wataru…" She muttered. Aizawa whimpered in fear as she clings onto Yukari's arm while staring at her tormentor.

Wataru laughed again. "Did I overhear you saying that you'll always look out for Aizawa no matter what? Well, I highly doubt you still will when you realize what she actually did to you back then."

"What are you talking about?" Yukari inquired.

"Do you know why I flirted with you back at school three years ago? It was my idea, but Aizawa played a very important role in it." Wataru smirked. Yukari widens her eyes in shock and glances at Aizawa, who stared wordlessly at her in fear and shame.

Yukari turns back to Wataru as he sniggered. "It's true. The day before that incident, when Aizawa called me after coming home from school, she immediately threw a temper tantrum, telling me that you told her to stop seeing me because I'm a bad influence to her. She hated you so much for saying those words that she wish you could leave the school so that she will never see your ugly old hag face ever again. Of course I was annoyed by her yelling and shouting over the phone, but I suggested an idea for her. I told Aizawa to hide behind a corner near the stairs and use her phone to film me the whole time while I walk up to you and make you feel very uncomfortable. Whatever response you would give me back then; Aizawa and I would frame you as someone who has an affair with a student years younger than you. Of course, you chose to slap me, and Aizawa recorded you doing so. And later that night, she removed the parts of the video of me making sexual advances and you running away. She uploaded the edited footage onto the Internet, which immediately got the attention of her classmates and other followers of her social media pages. And the next day, she went around making gossips and rumors to every student and teacher in school, who would then tell her stories to their families and friends. That was how Aizawa played an essential role in destroying your image and never allowing you to be accepted by Shinjuku High or any school in Japan ever again. I came up with the idea, but it is  _her_  who did the most damage to you."

Yukari turns to Aizawa who began sobbing uncontrollably in deep remorse. "I-I-it's true! E-everything Wataru said…" Staring back at Yukari with tearstained eyes, Aizawa took a gulp and struggled to speak between her sobs. "It's all true! I…I h-hated you so much back then…t-that I lost c-control of myself…and w-wanted revenge for what you said to me…I…I am a monster!" Aizawa wailed as she buries her face in her hands and burst into tears of guilt and sorrow.

Wataru laughed malevolently at Aizawa's pitiful display. "So may I ask you, Miss Yukino?" Wataru asked as the former teacher turns back to him. "Do you really still want to help her? Do you still want to lend a helping hand to someone who was vengeful towards you? Do you still want to protect someone who has proven herself to be a cruel, disgusting and unforgivable skank?" An evil grin takes form on his face. "Of course, any person who is sane would obviously say no. A sick fuck like her doesn't deserve pity and forgiveness. Only hate. But don't worry Miss Yukino, I have a golden opportunity for you." He drops the bat onto the floor and kicks it over to Yukari. She looks down as the bat rolls over and stops in front of her. "Finish her. Make her pay for what she did to you. Let her know that anyone who has brought pain and misery to others would only be rewarded with a brutal and merciless death."

Yukari's brows furrowed and her lips are sealed. She picks the bat up and stands up. Aizawa looks up with puffy red eyes as Yukari stood above her. Yukari clings onto the hilt of the bat as she glares down at her former student. At this point, Aizawa knows that she can never be forgiven for what she did to Yukari and there is nothing left in this world for her to live for. She closes her eyes and lowers her head in defeat, ready to accept her fate.

Yukari gazed at Aizawa as she holds the bat. Wataru is right. Aizawa is responsible for destroying her image and reputation as a teacher. The rumors she created further damaged her relationships with her students, friends and relatives, to the point that she lost her connection with Itou and her own self-confidence to face the public ever again. Her whole life was in shambles because of her. What Aizawa did to her was irreversible and she can never erase the pain she had brought upon her.

However, at the same time, Yukari couldn't help but think of the times she had with Saber, her other teammates and Taiga. She remembered all the times she had prevented and lectured her leader from killing anyone. She also recollects the times when she was actually happy with her new friends, as well as the night she spent with Taiga before. Not only it would be hypocritical for her to actually kill someone now but…how would Taiga feel if she was here right now? Taiga is the only friend in Tokyo she had left and how would she feel knowing that she is associated with someone who is willing to murder her own student for the sake of revenge?

Yukari closes her eyes and grits her teeth, feeling conflicted over the pain she had endured for the last three years and the emotional connections she had with her friends.

But eventually, she came to a decision. Looking back at Aizawa, Yukari lifts her bat up in the air and prepares to swing it. Wataru grins in satisfaction as he watches Yukari preparing to bring death upon the girl he despises.

"No!" Yukari cried.

Wataru's smile vanishes in an instant. To his shock, Yukari runs over to him and swings the bat horizontally into his gut. Wataru gasped in pain as he bends over. Yukari yells out as she brings the bat above him and swings it down onto the back of his head, slamming him to the floor. Wataru groans as he struggles to get up. But the pain that Yukari had brought onto the back of his skull was too brutal for him to endure that he closes his eyes and slump onto the floor, lying there in an unconscious heap.

"I don't give a fuck what she did to me!" Yukari bellowed as she tosses the bat aside. She turns and walks back to Aizawa, who stares at her completely dumbfounded. Yukari kneels down to Aizawa's level and places her hands on her shoulders as a warm and tender smile appears on her face. "She is still my student."

Aizawa stares blankly at her former teacher for a few moments before her face became distorted due to her urge to cry. Unable to suppress her tears and the pain that is tearing through her heart, Aizawa wailed in distress as she throws herself against Yukari and tightly embraces her.

"I'M SORRY!" Aizawa bawled unhappily as her tears splash onto Yukari's shoulder. "I'M SO SORRY!"

Yukari lets out a blissful sigh as she closes her eyes and hugs her former student back. She gently strokes Aizawa's hair as she wept and sobbed uncontrollably on her shoulder.

Despite everything she had done to her, Yukari is still willing to forgive her, making Aizawa realize that she had made a terrible mistake in getting rid of the only person who truly cared for her. Aizawa couldn't stop wailing throughout the night, continuously apologizing and expressing her deep regret to her former teacher.

* * *

_**The next day…** _

Saber and her team gathered in her office and stare at the laptop as Kiritsugu gave them his report of their latest completed mission.

"You guys did a fantastic job in Shibuya. Not only did we shut down another one of Matou Industries' factories, but we arrested several men associated with them, including the wanted mercenary Hassan-i-Sabbah and his assistant Asako. Hassan is currently in our custody and we'll make sure he provides as much vital information we want out of him." Kiritsugu said to the team.

"Sir, may I ask, what happened to Aizawa?" Yukari asked.

"Aizawa is currently hospitalized and under intensive care. But as soon as she recovers, she will serve life imprisonment for her involvement in the heist, though her sentence is reduced to only two years because of her loss over the function of her left foot."

Yukari sighed heavily, feeling sympathy for her former student over the fact that she will have difficulty in walking for the rest of her life. Aizawa may have done horrible things to her, but she still doesn't deserve such a terrible fate.

"It's time for all of you to rest as much as you can. Very soon, we will finally deal with Zouken Matou himself." Kiritsugu said solemnly. The screen turns off and Saber closes her laptop.

"You all may go now." Saber said to her teammates.

As they make their way out of the office, Yukari said to Shirou, "Shirou? Can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" Shirou asked.

"I would like to send something to two friends of mine in Tokyo. Will you help me?" Yukari asked.

Shirou smiled at her as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. "Of course." He replied.

After her teammates leave the room and close the door behind them, Saber leans forward and places her arms on her desk. With her eyes narrowed, she muttered, "It's time to end this, once and for all."

* * *

"See you later, Fujimura-san!" A teacher said to Taiga as she gets up from her workstation.

"See ya!" Taiga said cheerfully as she waves goodbye to her. The teacher grabs her suitcase and makes her way to the door. She slides it open and sees Hitomi, a woman with long brown hair, tied to a ponytail and dressed in a pink suit, pink skirt and black high heels, standing at the doorway.

"Murasaki-san." The teacher bows her head to him. Hitomi nodded as the teacher moves to the side and leaves the staffroom. Taiga looks up and sees Hitomi walking over to her with an envelope in her hand.

"Fujimura-san, it's for you." Hitomi said, extending the envelope to her.

"Huh? Who is it from?" Taiga asked as she takes the envelope.

"It's someone we recognize, Yukari Yukino." Hitomi replied. Taiga's eyes widened as she sees Yukari's name written on the envelope. "I guess she still fondly remembers you."

"Yeah." Taiga said with a wide smile. As Hitomi turns around to leave the room, Taiga opens the envelope and reads the letter inside.

' _Dear Taiga,_

_Thank you very much for the night before. I hope you are doing well and I would love to hang out with you again. But right now, I still have some important things left to attend to before I can see you again. And once I'm done, let us make up for all the times we missed._

_Yukari Yukino'_

Taiga sighs blissfully as she gently puts the letter down on her desk. She turns around on her chair and stares out the evening sky through the window.

"I can't wait, Yukino-san."

* * *

Inside a hospital located in Shibuya, a policeman stood in front of a door. Another officer walks up to him with a small present in her hand.

"Someone has sent a gift for Aizawa." The officer explained as she holds the present up to the man guarding the door. The policeman opens the present to take a look at the contents inside. After making sure nothing suspicious is inside the small rectangular box, the man closes the present and gave a nod of approval to the policewoman.

"You may proceed." The policeman said, opening the door for her. The policewoman enters the room to find Aizawa lying on her bed and staring blankly at the wall in front of her. Small bandages are plastered all over her face and the sides of her mouth. Aizawa could also feel more bandages wrapped around her hands, arms, chest, stomach and knees. Her left foot is lifted up from the bed, wrapped in a heavy cast and firmly set in place on a sling.

"Aizawa?" The policewoman asked softly. Aizawa turns her head as she approached her. "You have a gift." Aizawa slowly lifts her arm up and takes the present from the policewoman. "You should feel fortunate that there are people still caring for you despite your current situation." With that, the policewoman turns around and leaves the room.

* * *

When the policewoman leaves the hospital, she looks around to make sure there is nobody nearby before placing her finger onto her earpiece, "Package had been delivered to Aizawa."

" _Arigatou Mitsu-senpai."_  Shirou responded from the other side of the line.

"No problem." Ayako smiled. "Next time we meet, let's have a drink."

* * *

Aizawa opens up her present and widens her eyes. She took out the letter from the box and reads it.

' _Sometimes life hits you hard with a brick, but don't ever lose faith. Always stay strong and positive, and find the power to forgive yourself. I hope we'll see each other again someday._

_Yukari Yukino.'_

Aizawa puts the letter aside on the small drawer next to her bed. She took out the next item from the box which is a book. The book is titled  _'_ _ **The Pearl**_ _by John Steinbeck'_. Aizawa slides her fingers through the hard cover of the book as tears pooled in her eyes.

After wiping away her tears, she opens up the book and begins to read, ready to catch up the lessons she had missed with Yukari.

* * *

_**Three days later…** _

_**Berlin, Germany** _

Saber walked through the streets of Berlin, dressed in white long-sleeved coat, a dark blue scarf, a dark blue skirt, black stockings and black shoes. As she looked around her surroundings, she watched the couples walking down the streets with their fingers locked together, the children laughing cheerfully as they hold onto their parents' hands and the adolescents conversing with each other, not having a care in the world.

Saber sighed inwardly, wishing that she could share the same joy and pleasure these civilians are having. But unfortunately, her reasons for being in the German capital are of a different purpose.

She walks across the Oberbaum Bridge, a symbolic bridge that connects two boroughs that were once separated from each other during the Cold War. When she arrives at the middle of it, she spotted a blonde-haired man dressed in a black long-sleeved jacket with a white shirt underneath, black pants and black shoes. Saber's brows furrowed as she approaches the man.

"Hello, King." She uttered.

The man turns around to face her, showing her his blood red eyes. His teeth broke out into a huge grin and he joyfully spreads out his arms.

"Hi sweetie!"

Saber snorted. "Gilgamesh…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter edited on 27th September 2018


	23. Germany, Part 1

"What do you want?" Saber asked flatly.

Gilgamesh lowers his arms and stuffs his hands into his pockets. "I just want to check up on you. That's all." He smiled warmly at her.

"What's to check on me?" Saber narrows her eyes.

"Well, there's something that's bothering me." Gilgamesh said as he rubs his chin. Saber watches him walks over to the railing of the bridge and leans his back against it. He folds his arms and continued, "The way you've been handling your targets lately…it's so…weird…"

"What do you mean?" Saber asked.

"Well, first off, Medea…France…kidnapper and serial killer…captured alive…sentenced to life imprisonment. Second, Uryu Ryunosuke…Australia…child kidnapper and cop killer…captured alive…sentenced to life imprisonment. And now, just recently, Hassan-i-Sabbah…Japan…former soldier turned cold blooded mercenary…captured alive…sentenced to life imprisonment." Gilgamesh's smile flips downwards into a worried frown. "If I didn't know any better…my sweetie pie, Arturia Pendragon, has now turned…" He gently places his hand on his chest. "Soft…"

Saber remained silent for a brief moment. "The circumstances were different during those situations."

Gilgamesh burst out into laughter. "You're pulling my leg, right? That's not the sweetie pie I know." He pushes himself off from the railing and nonchalantly walks over to Saber. "The Saber I know is fierce, courageous, stubborn, and most of all…" When Gilgamesh finds himself standing in front of her, he cups Saber's chin and slightly lifts her head up. "Resilient."

Saber stayed quiet as she and Gilgamesh gaze into each other's eyes. "I hope you will still keep that promise we made together." He whispered.

"I do." Saber replied.

"Good." Gilgamesh smiled and nodded his head. "Because my heart will break if you are not the same woman I know from 2 years ago anymore."

"If you have anything else to discuss, say it now. I have to get back to my team ASAP." Saber said.

"Well, there is one other thing." Gilgamesh said, removing his fingers from Saber's chin. He places his hands on both sides of his hips and he explained, "Today is the big day eh? It's the day you raid Matou's hideout and put an end to his psychotic plans once and for all! Look how far you have come, baby, I'm so proud of you!" For a moment, he grins and raises his fist into the air. As he lowers his fist, he looks back at Saber with a malevolent smirk. "I want him dead, and you will get the job done."

After glaring at Gilgamesh in silence for a few seconds, Saber replied flatly as she turned, "I assure you I will."

Suddenly, Gilgamesh hastily walks up to her and grabs her arm. Saber grits her teeth as she turns back to him. As their bodies pressed against each other, Gilgamesh and Saber swiftly draw out their guns from their pockets. Gilgamesh places the muzzle of his USP against her stomach just by half a second before Saber presses her Glock 17 against his abdomen.

"You better watch your tone, dear. Don't forget…it was  _I_  who made you what you are now." Gilgamesh sneered as he whispered into her ear. "I brought you above the law. I brought you to the top. So like a child naturally listening to their parents, you better show me some manners too."

Saber's hand around her Glock began to tremble as she glares at Gilgamesh in silence for a few moments. She lets out a small sigh and puts away her Glock into her pocket. "I will do it. I will eliminate Zouken Matou." She said straight to Gilgamesh's face.

"Good girl." Gilgamesh smiled at her and he lands a small kiss on her cheek. Saber flinched as it felt like poison burnt onto her skin.

Gilgamesh pulls his USP away from Saber and puts it back into his pocket as they back away from each other. She looks around and sees the passers-by continue walking down the bridge casually, much to her relief.

"Don't fail me now, lion." Saber looks back at Gilgamesh as he gave a cheerful grin and waves his hand goodbye.

"I won't." Saber replied clearly to him as she turned again and hastily walks away. She lowers her head and adjusts her scarf as she wipes off a tear from her eye.

* * *

Meanwhile, the other members of the team are hanging around the Pariser Platz, waiting for their leader's return.

"Say cheese." Chulainn said as he holds up his phone in front of his face. Ricky, Shirou, Yukari and Rin wrap their arms around each other and smile at the camera with a wide shot of the Brandenburg Gate behind them. Chulainn takes a shot and gave a thumbs-up.

"There goes another great snapshot to show to Fujimura-san, isn't it?" Shirou said to Yukari as they turn to each other.

"Sure is." Yukari smiled as she strokes her hair.

"So how are you going to interpret this mission about busting into Matou Industries' hideout to take out a corrupt old man to your friend?" Ricky asked as he folds his arms.

"Well…" Yukari cups her chin as she looks up. "How about this is the time me and my friends went to Germany to do charity work to make up for all the years I spent brooding over losing my job at Shinjuku High?"

"Oh we are definitely doing a lot of charity work when we finally put an end to Matou Industries' insane plans." Rin smirked.

"I never thought this day would come. The time when we finally deal with Zouken Matou himself." Shirou said solemnly.

"Let's put an end to that old bastard." Ricky uttered. Shirou, Rin and Yukari nod their heads as Chulainn approaches them.

"I wonder why the boss wants to come here first before heading to the hideout." Chulainn said to his teammates.

"Probably to gather supplies and rations?" Ricky said.

"But that's usually Archer's job." Rin said as she places her hands on both sides of her hip.

"Speaking of supplies and rations, maybe if our mission goes well, I will buy some authentic German groceries so that I can cook Hamburg steaks for all of you as our celebration." Shirou smiled.

"Oh great, there goes Archer being absorbed inside his cooking fantasies again. Way a go, Assassin." Chulainn muttered, narrowing his eyes at Ricky.

"Shut your hole!" Ricky yelled back in annoyance as Rin and Yukari laughed.

" _Assassin?"_  Ricky could hear Saber's voice in his earphone.

"Quiet." Ricky said flatly to his teammates. As everyone quiet down, Ricky turns around and answers his earpiece. "Saber."

" _Hey Assassin, I'm done with what I had to do. It's time we deal with Matou."_  Saber murmured.

"Understood. But are you okay?" Ricky asked, noticing that something doesn't sound right about his leader's voice.

" _Yeah, I'm fine."_  Saber replied. Ricky could hear her taking a gulp.  _"Tell everyone to meet me up at Spreepark in Treptower Park. I'll see you all there."_

"Aye." Ricky responded and he removes his finger from his earpiece. He turns to his teammates and instructed them, "Come on guys, it's time for us to meet up with boss."

"Got it." Rin said before turning to her head slightly to the left. "Let's go Berserker!" Everyone sees Illya standing in the distance and staring blankly into the sky.

"Berserker?" Rin called out to her teammate again. After snapping out of her thoughts, Illya slowly turned. Everyone notice the frown on her face.

"Berserker? You okay?" Ricky asked.

"I'm good." Illya gave a forced smile to her teammates. "Is it time for us to go?"

"Indeed. Let's go." Chulainn called out, gesturing her to come over.

Illya turns her head away for a moment before running over to her teammates. She never thought she would ever set foot in Germany again. Coming back to her homeland only grimly reminded her of days of pain and regret.

* * *

_**3 Years Ago…** _

_**Leipzig, Germany** _

A short 15-year old girl with long white hair hums merrily as she reads a calculus book at the dining table in her kitchen. She inserts her hand into a bag she placed at the side and takes out a potato chip.

As she munches on her chip, she could hear the lock of the main door being turned. She places her book down and turns to her left to see a woman entering her home with a tired frown on her face. Just like the girl, the woman has long white hair and red eyes. She is dressed in a dark red long-sleeved blouse with a black ribbon around its collar, a white skirt, black tight pants and long white boots.

"Willkommen zuhause, mommy." The girl greeted cheerfully.

The woman turns to her daughter and gave a wan smile. "Guten abend, Illyasviel." She waves her hand nonchalantly as she hastily walks over to the couch. Her mother places her sling bag down on the floor, turns around and exhales as she flops down on the couch. Illya chuckled as she gets up from her chair. She gets out of the kitchen, walks over to the couch and sat beside her mother.

"Work had sucked your life away again?" Illya asked as she lies back on the couch.

Her mother turns her head and strokes her daughter's hair. "When does it ever not?" She replied wearily.

Illya giggled as she snuggled against her mother. "I can tell by the look on your face that something must be holding you back. What seems to be the problem?" She asked.

"Well, we just can't seem to solve some certain equations, and we've been stuck on this problem for nearly three months now." Her mother sounded disheartened.

"Don't give up, mom." Illya said encouragingly. "I worked so hard in school that I was able to skip a grade. You can do the same thing with your job too, right?"

"I wish." Her mother rolls her eyes. "I guess it's true that when you grow older, you stressed out more."

"Well, I'm not going to let that happen to me!" Illya grins as she sat up from her couch and clenches her fists.

Her mother laughed as she sat up as well. "I'm sure you will get my job one day." She remarked as she gave a pat on her daughter's back. "Now then, I should start making dinner. Put away your potato chips, will you?"

"D'aww…" Illya pouts at her mother as she folds her arms. She watches her mother gets up from the couch and walks into the kitchen. She looks down and notices her mother's bag still lying on the floor. She gets up from her couch, picks up the bag and found a folder inside.

As Illya removes the folder and places the bag on the couch, she opens it and widens her eyes as she finds several documents filled with numbers, algebraic symbols and calculus equations. She glances at her mother who is currently focused on preparing dinner at the kitchen before turning her head back to the documents. A smile takes form on her face. If her mother is having trouble with these equations, maybe she could try helping her.

* * *

When her mother finished preparing their dinner, she leaves the kitchen and walks up the stairs.

"Illya, I've finished cooking dinner. It's your favorite, quarter pounder burger!" She called out. When she arrives at the second floor, she walks over to the door of her daughter's room and turns the knob.

After opening the door, her mother widens her eyes in surprise. She finds Illya sitting on her bed, writing something on her sketchpad. Laid in front of her was her folder, opened and revealing its contents.

Illya looks up and smiled sheepishly at her mother. "Hey mom."

"What are you doing?" Her mother asked.

"Well…I was just about to finish my solution to your equations and…" After scribbling a little bit more, Illya puts her pencil aside and turns her sketchpad around. Her mother walks over to her and grabs the sketchpad. She takes a closer look at what her daughter had written. Her eyes widen and her mouth agape in awe.

"I…I don't believe this…" Her mother uttered. She looks back at her daughter incredulously. "We couldn't solve this for three months…but you did in just an hour."

Illya grins at her mother as she taps her finger on the side of her head. Her mother laughed as she puts down her sketchpad on Illya's bed and spreads out her arms as she walks over to her daughter. Illya gets up from her bed and both she and her mother gave each other a warm embrace.

"You really are something special." Her mother whispered into Illya's ear. Illya sighed blissfully as she rests her head on her mother's shoulder.

When they pull themselves away from each other, her mother asked, "How would you like to come to my office after school tomorrow?"

Illya nodded her head in response. "Sounds lovely!"

* * *

Illya slowly opened her eyes as she woke up from her nap. She finds herself sitting at the far back of a six-seat taxi. She is sitting between Shirou and Rin while Chulainn and Yukari sat in the center row. Ricky is sitting in the passenger seat beside the driver. Illya sighs inwardly as she is reminded of the day she helped her mother solved the equations that she and her co-workers are struggling to solve. Little did she knew back then that it was something she never should have done.

"Mom…" She murmured just as the taxi came to a halt.

"Here you go, sir. Thanks for the ride." Ricky said to the taxi driver as he made the payment. He and his teammates step out of the taxi and make their way to the entrance of the park. The group walked through Treptower Park, a large park located in the Berlin district of Treptow-Köpenick and alongside the river of Spree. The park is both quiet and beautiful because of its wideness and lush greenery. Because the park is located far away from the more densely populated boroughs of Berlin, it is the perfect place for people to relax and free themselves from the busy and crowded areas of the German capital. However, at the other side of this park lies a dark and secluded place that had been abandoned for years.

The group later find themselves at the entrance of an abandoned amusement park. Yukari widens her eyes in awe. She never would have imagined such a place exists at the other side of a beautiful park. Chulainn opens the metal gates and they all walk inside. Dead leaves and litter are scattered all across the floor. The rides that were once vibrant and filled with life are now immobile and lost its sense of value. Statues of prehistoric animals are damaged, vandalized and left unrepaired for years. It is truly a place that was once filled with charm and life is now deserted and is slowly being overrun by Mother Nature.

"This is Spreepark." Illya explains to Yukari as they walked. "Spreepark was first opened by the GDR in 1969 when this side of Berlin was under communist control. It served as the only place of entertainment in East Berlin. Then, when the country is reunified, this place faced a huge decline in visitors and a large increase of debts, to the point that it was ultimately shut down."

"Interesting. I guess it reminds us that sometimes, when good things happen, something will die in return." Yukari said grimly.

"Yeah." Illya mumbled as the memory of her mother briefly flashes inside her mind. "It does."

They arrived at a kiosk that is in front of the park's infamous Ferris wheel. They see Saber leaning against the run down kiosk while drinking beer from her metal flask. When she turned to see her teammates walking over to her, Saber closes her flask and puts it away underneath her coat.

"Hello everyone." Saber greeted flatly as she turns to them. "Are you all prepared? This could be our final mission against Matou Industries."

Her teammates nod their heads solemnly. The dull expression on their leader's face raises questions for them, but they choose to remain silent.

"Good. But I want to say something in regards to our target, Zouken Matou. I want him dead and no objections." Saber said.

"Saber, what are you-" Yukari tried to speak but Saber holds her hand up to her as she glowers at her.

"Caster, I thank you for making me reflect on my past actions. But unfortunately, in this case, Zouken Matou cannot be forgiven. He is considered too dangerous to live. If he or any of his trusted allies are to be remain alive, his ideologies will still live on. The Od serum will never be truly destroyed and Justice will never be served to the people who have died because of this man and his experiments." Saber said.

Rin narrows her eyes and turns her head away for moment as she is grimly reminded of how her parents tragically die and her sister turned into a living weapon because of that cruel man. She looks back at her leader and said solemnly, "I agree with Saber. Zouken Matou must be personally dealt with."

"Rider…" Yukari uttered as she turned to Rin.

"I know I said back in France that I want Matou Industries to pay for what they did, and I still standby it. But after learning what happen to my sister back in Argentina, I believe the appropriate punishment for Zouken Matou specifically…is death." Rin explained.

"I agree too." Ricky said as he raises his hand. "After what happened during my mission in Siberia, I cannot let that man harm another person like Jack and Reika ever again."

"There comes a time when you cannot let your guard down to deliver the right judgment." Shirou said firmly. "And I believe the right judgment for Zouken Matou is death."

"I agree." Illya said as she and Chulainn nod their heads.

"Me too." Chulainn added.

"Caster?" Saber asked as everyone turn to Yukari who is bestowed in making the final and deciding vote.

Yukari sighed inwardly as her eyes softened. She does want her former boss to pay for the crimes and atrocities he and his company had committed. But she still hopes that this mission could end with Zouken standing trial for his crimes instead of just being killed without mercy. However, it seems this time; she cannot convince her team not to resort to killing their target. After what Rin and Ricky had been through, there doesn't seem any way she can get them to be on her side.

Regrettably, she raised her hand and responded sadly, "I agree."

"Good." Saber said. She turns to the vehicle beside her and removes the sheets, revealing the team's Cadillac Escalade SUV. She looks back at her team and ordered them, "Let's move out."

* * *

_**3 Years Ago** _

_**Los Angeles, California, United States** _

"Rin? Can you hear me?" Sakura called out to her sister in concern as she knocks on the door.

"Go away!" Rin cried hoarsely from the other side.

Sakura frowned at the door in front of her. Her sister recently had another argument with her father and she had locked herself up in her bedroom. Sakura want nothing right now but to comfort her sister and assure her that everything will be alright.

"Rin, please let me in. Won't you let your sister come see you?" Sakura asked.

After ten seconds of silence, Rin unlocks the knob and opens the door. Sakura instantly noticed the tearstained eyes and puffy red cheeks on her sister's face. Rin quietly turns around and walks back to her bed as Sakura follows her from behind. The two sisters sat down on Rin's bed and they remain silent for nearly a minute.

"I can't stand Dad." Rin said, wiping a tear from her eye. "He's always criticizing me, always expecting more from me, always wanting me to be better than you, all because I'm the heir to his company. I'm sick of it. I'm just not like you, Sakura. You're more smarter and talented than me. I just can't serve as a role model to my younger sister no matter how much I tried and wanted to."

Sakura clasps her hands together and said to her sister, "At least you still tried your very best. I'm proud of you."

"But I'm older than you, Sakura. How can I acknowledge myself as your older twin sister and the eldest child of the family when I'm not better than you?" Rin asked.

"You may not be able to serve as my role model, but you are still my biggest supporter." Sakura said. Rin turns her head and sees the wide smile taking form on Sakura's face. "You are my sister, Rin. That's all that matters to me. Even if you think you're not better than me, you still spend time with me, care for me, and support me in my endeavors. That is already enough to make me love you as my sister. And that's why whenever you're down," Sakura firmly places her hand on Rin's shoulder. "You have my support too."

Rin's eyes softened as she stares wordlessly at Sakura for a few moments. She responded by wrapping her arm around Sakura. Sakura chuckled as she wraps her own arm around her older twin sister and rests her head on her shoulder. Rin sighs sadly as she rests her head on top of Sakura's. For a long period of time, the two sisters remain silent as they stayed together in their peaceful embrace.

* * *

_**100 kilometers away from Bautzen, Germany** _

Sakura wakes up and stares at the ceiling above her. She grimaced as she sat up straight from an electric chair. She couldn't believe it. She can't believe she had yet another dream of her enemy known as Rider. Ever since her encounter with her, she had been getting these visions of her and she has no idea why. How could that woman whom she literally has no connection with constantly appear in her dreams? And what are these visions trying to tell her? Telling her that she is related to her? No. It can't. That is impossible. But yet, Sakura couldn't help but wonder why these visions are telling her so.

"Ma'am? Are you okay?" Sakura turns her head to see the doctor sitting beside her with a clipboard in his hand. In front of the doctor are two monitors with tubes attached to Sakura's left arm, analyzing her heart beat and brain waves.

"I wish." Sakura replied. Just then, the door opened. Sakura and the doctor turn to see Kirei and three masked mercenaries entering the room. "Kotomine sir." Sakura greeted as she nods her head to him.

Kirei nods his head back and asked the doctor, "How is she?"

"Ever since returning from Argentina, her condition is…questionable. I have already done the treatment on her a number of times for the last ten days." The doctor responded. He gets up from his chair and whispers to Kirei's ear. "But they keep coming back 40 hours later."

Kirei nodded again and takes another step close to Sakura. "How are you feeling?" He asked as he leans forward to her.

"Sir…ever since I fought with one of them…I've been getting these…visions…that one of my enemies is actually related to me. I don't know why." Sakura said with a mixture of frustration and confusion.

Kirei grimaced. Knowing that Aoi Tohsaka-Phillips is dead, he believed that Sakura must have fought with her sister known as Rin Tohsaka. He never would have imagine one day, the girl he met at Tokiomi's funeral and the surviving daughter of the former CEO of Tohsaka Corporation, would actually become one of Matou Industries' worst enemies.

"What is your mission, Sakura Matou?" Kirei inquired sternly.

Sakura stares blankly at him for a few moments before she finally replied, "To protect Zouken Matou from his enemies and save human lives around the world."

"Yes, and you have been doing so for the last two years. There are billions of people out there who are dying because they are poor and unfortunate. But Zouken Matou is here to save their lives. He gave them cure when they desperately needed it. And he is able to achieve that peacefully because of you. Sadly, there are still people out there who would want to steal this cure from Matou for their personal gain. That is why you are important to us. You are doing your part in making this world a better and safer place, so don't falter now." Kirei said, giving a pat on Sakura's shoulder.

Sakura's face distorts into a scowl of rage and determination. She gave a solemn nod and said flatly to Kirei, "Do it."

Kirei removes his hand from her shoulder as he backs away. He turns to the doctor and signals him to perform the procedure. Sakura lies back on her chair and firmly places her arms on the sides. The doctor wraps the leather belts around her wrists, making sure they are tightly secured. Afterwards, the doctor goes behind the chair and tightly wraps another leather belt around Sakura's upper arms and body. He takes out a mouthguard from the pocket of his coat and inserts it into Sakura's mouth when she opens it. After Sakura puts on the mouthguard, the doctor goes back to his seat. He types on the keyboard and suddenly, a pair of metal claws sprung out from behind the chair's headrest and clasps around Sakura's head as they lock together.

Sakura takes a deep breath as she calmly waits for the doctor to begin her treatment. The doctor turns to Kirei who gave him a solemn nod. The doctor types on his keyboard and activates the electric chair.

Sakura suddenly felt more than a hundred volts jolting throughout her body. Her eyelids shut tightly and she lets out a loud and agonizing scream through her gritted teeth.

As Sakura helplessly sat on the chair and endures the painful procedure, Kirei and his men turn around to make their leave.

"What if the procedure fails again?" One of the masked men asked his superior.

"If it fails…" Kirei's eyes darkened. "We would have no choice but to make other uses of her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little note, even though I didn't mention her name, yes, Illya's mother in this story is indeed Irisviel von Einzbern.


	24. Germany, Part 2

Outside, two masked mercenaries armed with AK-47 rifles are standing behind the barrier, guarding the lone road that leads to the facility. Tall metal fences are built around the boundaries of the facility with several more mercenaries patrolling behind them.

As they stood behind the barrier, one of the masked men noticed something moving in the distance, "What is that? Is that an SUV?"

The other masked man standing next to him narrows his eyes as he leans his head forward. "Yeah, it looks like it." He replied.

"Does any of our staff drive SUVs?"

"I don't know but…" The man widens his eyes in terror. "It ain't stopping!" As the SUV drove closer towards the barrier, the two masked men hold up their rifles and fire.

Saber and her team lower their heads as the bullets fire through the front window. As she kept her head down, Rin lowers her foot down on the gas pedal and accelerates the SUV.

Realizing that the enemy vehicle is never going to stop, the two mercenaries scream as they turn around and run away. However, when the SUV breaks through the barrier, the front of the vehicle collided against their backs and send them sliding through the ground on their faces.

After Rin turns the steering wheel and brought the SUV to a screeching halt, Saber and her team got out of the vehicle from both sides and draw out their guns.

"Shoot them! Fire at will!" One of the mercenaries yelled as they run over and fire their rifles at them.

Saber and her team quickly hide behind the doors of their SUV for cover. Illya presses the trigger of her minigun. As soon as the barrel began spinning, Illya stood up, steps out from her cover and mercilessly fires a rain of bullets at the mercenaries.

Meanwhile at the other side of the SUV, Ricky and Chulainn also got out from their cover and fire their revolver and rifle back at the enemies, providing backup for Illya at the same time.

When all of the mercenaries are down, Saber gestures her team to move forward. They all got out of their cover and head towards the large circular-shaped bunker with a dome rooftop.

As they move nearer to the metal doors, Shirou takes out a grenade. He pulls out the safety pin and tosses the grenade at the entrance. The grenade explodes, creating an opening for the team to enter the facility.

* * *

A masked mercenary walks up to Zouken and places a metal tray containing his cup and jar of tea onto his desk. Zouken was about to grab his jar when suddenly, he and the mercenary could hear and feel the tremors coming from the ceiling.

"We must be under attack!" The masked mercenary said to Zouken.

"Then move!" Zouken bellowed as he slams his fist on the desk. The mercenary salutes to his boss before whirling about and running out of the office.

Zouken grimaced as he gets up from his chair. After months of hiding himself away from the public, his hideout had been discovered, and if there is anyone who had the capabilities to find out where he had been hiding since his exile from Japan, it would be the same people who had exposed his plans in creating the Grail missiles and the Od serum and distributing them to the world.

He grabs his cane and trudges his way to the office door. He takes out his phone and contacted his assistant, "Kirei? Has my granddaughter finished undergoing her treatment?"

" _Yes, Matou-sama."_  Kirei responded.

"Good. Deploy her and yourself in taking out our unwelcomed visitors."

" _Understood."_

Zouken puts away his phone just as he reached the doorway. If it is a fight that his enemies want, he will sure give them one hell of it.

* * *

As they enter deeper into the secret facility, Saber and her team arrive at a wide open area filled with large and tall metal shelves, lined up in vertical rows and containing stacks of metal crates. They walk through the shelves and see that the crates are labeled with names of places from all over the world.

"Hafnir. It's near Keflavik." Ricky said to Saber as they walk.

Chulainn turns his head and sees several crates labelled with the name of a place they recognized. "Great Sandy…"

"Shibuya…" Yukari said in awe while looking at the crates stacked inside another shelf.

"Xi'an…" Rin said as she, Shirou and Illya look at the crates stored in the upper rows of the shelves.

"Gangtok…" Shirou added.

"Bacs-Kiskun…these crates must come from Matou Industries' hidden factories from all around the globe." Illya implied.

"And that means all of these crates contain the Od serum that they had finished producing." Saber frowned.

"We've got to tell Kiritsugu and Maiya about this." Ricky said to his leader.

"There they are!"

Saber and her teammates looked up. Twelve masked men run down the metal bridge installed at the top of the room. They aim their rifles at the intruders while standing close together in a horizontal row. As they fire, Shirou, Rin, Illya and Yukari quickly hide behind the side of a metal shelf while Saber, Ricky and Chulainn ran off to their right.

As Saber hides behind the side of another metal shelf with Ricky and Chulainn, she gestures Shirou to provide her cover. Shirou nods his head and turns his head to the metal bridge as the mercenaries stop firing.

"Come on out! Show yourselves!" The leader of the group demanded.

As Shirou slightly pokes his head out from the side of the shelf, he notices the four metal chains that are attached to the ceiling and the corners of the bridge. He draws out his sniper rifle and closes an eye as he tries to make a good aim at the chain holding onto the front right corner of the bridge.

"You can't hide from us!" The leader yelled again.

"Sir!" One of the mercenaries shouted as he spots Shirou aiming at the bridge. Before Shirou could fire a shot, the mercenary quickly fires his rifle at him. Shirou quickly hides back behind the shelf and cursed under his breath.

"Nice try! Now come on out!" The leader of the group shouted again as he aims his rifle at the shelf Shirou is hiding behind.

Suddenly, Saber comes out from her hiding spot and fires her Glocks at the chain Shirou was aiming for. The bullets break through the chains, causing the bridge to fall to the side. The mercenaries howl as they lost their balance. Two of the mercenaries scream in agony as they fall over the bridge and down to the floor below. Everyone present in the room could even hear their bones break as they hit the floor.

The leader, who is holding onto the railing, gets himself back standing on his feet and fires his rifle at Saber, who quickly hides back behind the shelf.

"Everyone! Fire back!" The leader ordered his men. Six of his men fire their guns at Shirou's hiding spot. The remaining three join their leader in firing at the shelf Saber, Ricky and Chulainn are hiding behind.

Rin pokes her head out at the left side of the shelf and sees the chain attaching the front left corner of the bridge. One of the mercenaries spotted Rin and fires his rifle at her, causing her to hide back behind the shelf.

"You can't stay behind there forever, assholes!" One of the mercenaries shouted as they stop firing. Rin inserts her M1911 pistol into the pocket of Yukari's suit.

"Ready?" Rin whispered into her ear. Yukari nodded in response. Rin kneels down and cups her hands together. Yukari steps onto her hands and Rin throws her up to the top of the shelf as she got up. Yukari quickly grabs onto the ledge of the shelf and pulls herself up with all of her strength. As she lifts her head up, she draws out Rin's pistol while the mercenaries are still distracted in aiming their rifles at the sides of the shelves.

"Eagle eye." Yukari whispered as she closes her right eyelid and aims the pistol at the front left chain. "And fire!"

Yukari quickly fires a few shots at the chain just as the mercenaries spotted her. Before they could fire back, the chain broke and the masked men find themselves losing their balance again. All of them scream as they drop their guns, fall off the bridge and down to the floor below. Only the leader is left dangling onto the railing for his dear life.

As the leader turns his head, he sees Illya walking out from her hiding spot while humming merrily to herself. She grins playfully and waves her hand at the leader before aiming her minigun at his direction. The leader squealed as he helplessly watched.

"This little piggy went to the market." Illya said before firing her gun at the chain holding onto the back left corner of the bridge. The bridge lowered itself once more and the leader screams as he still clings onto the railing.

"And this little piggy stayed at home." Illya aims her minigun at the last remaining chain and fires again. When the chain breaks, the bridge plummets through the air and the leader screams in agony as he finally fell to the floor below along with his fallen mercenaries. Illya frowns as she lowers her minigun. "Which he should have."

As Yukari falls off from the top of the shelf, Shirou and Rin catch her and set her down safely on the floor. She hands Rin back her weapon and everyone got out of their hiding spots to gather around Illya. "What should we do with these crates?" Rin inquired.

"Leave them. When the mission is over, we'll contact Kiritsugu and Maiya and let them handle these crates." Saber said.

"Fire!" A voice yelled.

Saber, Ricky, Chulainn, Shirou, Illya and Rin swiftly turn and fire their guns at the mercenaries who have entered the room. The team slowly moves forward as they continuously fire their guns at their enemies. When Chulainn stops momentarily to reload his rifle, Ricky quickly places himself in front of him and continues firing his revolver.

After the team took down thirty mercenaries, the most heavyset of the group enters the room and fires his chain gun at them. Saber and her teammates quickly scatter and move out of the way.

"God dammit, they have one too?!" Illya cried as she and Rin ran together.

"You're not the only human being in the world who owns a minigun!" Rin replied.

The heavyset mercenary sets his sight on Saber and fires his chain gun at her as he turns. Saber kept running towards the wall as the bullets land behind her feet. When she reached the wall, she runs up and did a somersault. As the bullets hit the wall, Saber lands on her feet and draws out her Glock, firing a bullet into the mercenary's right thigh.

The heavyset mercenary groans as he falls down on his right knee. Chulainn runs up to him, jumps in the air and throws a punch across his face as he lands back down. He goes behind the mercenary and wraps his arms around his neck. As the mercenary grabs Chulainn's arm and struggles to breathe as he attempts to break free, Chulainn quickly draws out his combat knife and stabs him at the side of his neck.

As Chulainn releases him and backs away, the heavyset mercenary turns around as he gets up and mindlessly waves his fists at him with the knife still stabbed through his neck. As the mercenary kept trudging forward, Chulainn dodges his fists by turning side to side as he backs away. As blood gurgled inside his throat, the mercenary makes one final attempt to attack Chulainn by raising his fists into the air and try to bring them down onto his head. Chulainn dodges the overhead strike by turning to the side again. Ricky runs up to the heavyset mercenary from behind and climbs onto his back. He aims his revolver at the back of his head and fires a single bullet. The mercenary groans as he collapses onto the floor with a heavy thud.

"Now we're even." Ricky smirked at Chulainn. Chulainn smiled back, remembering their mission in Australia and gave a thumbs-up to him.

"Let's move!" Saber ordered her team. As they reunite, they move forward to the end of the room. Saber kicks open the doors and they enter the next room.

They hold up their guns in front of their faces as they look around. They see that they are in another large and wide open area. This time, at the sides of the room were large missiles stacked onto each other.

"These must be Grail missiles." Illya said as everyone lower their weapons.

"Definitely bigger than the ones we found in Great Sandy." Ricky added.

"Indeed they are."

Saber and her team swiftly turn back to the front and hold up their weapons again. Right in front of them was Kirei, casually walking towards them with a scowl on his face and his hands behind his back. Upon seeing him, Yukari widens her eyes while Rin furiously grits her teeth.

"You…" Rin snarled, her voice quivering with rage.

"Kirei Kotomine…" Yukari uttered, vividly remembering the man who assigned her and Mr. Kodama to travel to Caspian Corporation's headquarters.

"So you are Zouken Matou's highest ranking employee whom Rin had been talking about?" Saber asked, pointing her Glocks at Kirei.

Kirei came to a halt when he finds himself standing a few meters away from the intruders. Keeping his calm demeanor, Kirei responded with a solemn nod, "Yes I am. And I assume you are all the people who have been interrupting our operations." He turns to Rin and Yukari. "It must be fate that we meet each other again under these circumstances, Rin Tohsaka."

"Damn you…Kirei…" Rin muttered as her hands around the grip of her pistol shook uncontrollably in rage.

"And it's nice to see you alive and well, Yukari Yukino." Kirei continued. "It's no surprise that you are now with them after learning what we have been doing behind the shadows."

"Yes. And I feel extremely ashamed for ever being associated with you and your company." Yukari frowned.

"You know it's inevitable that you and Zouken would eventually be found. It's time to accept the fact that your company ends here. Right now." Ricky said.

Kirei narrows his eyes. "You fools would dare put a stop to Zouken's dream in creating a peaceful world?" He asked.

"The only fools here are the ones who believe that turning innocent people into living weapons is the way to create a peaceful world!" Illya cried.

"What do you know, girl?" Kirei asked Illya. "We humans will always be a violent species. No matter what we do, we will always be fighting each other in some way or another. That is why the only true way to achieve peace is complete order and control over them. That is true power."

"So killing my parents and taking away my sister is considered 'order' and 'control'?!" Rin shouted.

"What happen to your family is unfortunate. But you have to make the necessary sacrifices to achieve what you desire, Miss Tohsaka." Kirei answered.

Illya narrows her eyes and lowers her head. Is this really how all humans think to achieve what they want? Does her mother have to be a necessary sacrifice? She closes her eyes as memories of her past came coming back to her head.

* * *

_**3 Years Ago…** _

_**Leipzig, Germany** _

Illya, her mother and several scientists stand behind a wide glass window as they stood at an upper floor. They watch a scientist walking over to a patient sitting on a metal chair. He inserts the syringe through his arm and injects the newly created serum. Everyone at the upper floor turn to see the scientist watching the monitors in front of her in awe.

"I don't believe it! Heart and blood rates are still normal and all infected blood cells inside him are slowly deteriorating. At this rate, he is on his way to full recovery." The scientist commented. Illya and her mother smiled. They turn to each other and laugh as they embrace. The other scientists in the room applaud as they watch the two.

"We did it, mom!" Illya cried happily.

"You did it, Illya. You're the one who solve the equation." Her mother said.

"Congratulations, Irisviel and Illyasviel von Einzbern." As they break away from their hug, Illya and Irisviel turn to see an old man walking up to them with his hands behind his back. He is dressed in a white lab coat, has receding white hair and a distinctively large birthmark on his right temple. "Thanks to the both of you, millions of people around the world who are contracted with this rare disease will finally be cured."

Illya widens her eyes as a huge smile takes form on her face. She never would have imagine that one day, Illyasviel von Einzbern, a 15-year old girl who hadn't even graduated from high school and entered college, would share the credit with her mother and her team for discovering the cure to the rare disease.

"This is truly a groundbreaking event in medical history, Mr. Kihara!" One of the scientists beside the old man said enthusiastically.

"We will surely win the Nobel prize for this!" Another scientist added.

"I'm so glad to be alive to see this day!" Another scientist said as she clasps her hands together.

"We can have our celebrations later, but I would like to see Irisviel in my office right now for discussion." Kihara Gensei said to Irisviel with a warm smile.

"Of course, Mr. Kihara." Irisviel said. She turns to her daughter and places her hand on her shoulder. "I have to leave for a moment for grown up talk." Illya pouted. "At the meantime, you can introduce yourself further to my fellow crew members."

Illya giggled. "I'd love to." She said to her mother. Irisviel smiled and ruffles Illya's hair before walking away and following Mr. Kihara out of the room. Illya's smile widens as she began coversing with the other scientists who are eager to know more about her.

* * *

On the way home, Illya hums merrily as she sat beside her mother in their car. She turns to her mother for a moment and noticed the solemn frown on her face. Feeling disheartened, Illya asked Irisviel in concern, "Mom? Are you alright?"

Irisviel glances at her daughter and smiled reassuringly. "Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for your concern." She replied and turned her head back to the front.

Illya remained silent for the rest of the ride home. She knows her mother's smile was clearly forced. She had been awfully quiet ever since leaving the office and she refuses to tell her what caused the change in her mood.

They finally arrived home and her mother stopped the car outside of the garage door. She presses a button on the remote and the door began sliding open.

"Mom, if something bad happened back at the office, you can always talk to me." Illya said, turning to her mother again.

"Again, thanks for your concern." Irisviel smiled at Illya once more. "But I can assure you I'm-"

As they turn their heads back to the front, both mother and daughter gasp in horror. As the garage door slides itself open, it slowly reveals three men dressed in similar black suits aiming their pistols at them.

Illya and Irisviel immediately duck for cover as the men began firing their guns at the front of their car. After firing several gunshots, all of them muffled with their silencers, the three men lower their pistols. Several holes are formed through the car's hood and front window. The three men walk over to the front doors and open them, seeing both Irisviel and Illyasviel lying motionlessly on their seats. Two of them slowly turn their bodies and they can clearly see pools of blood on their chests and lower bodies. Their eyelids are close and their muscles aren't showing the slightest movement.

"They're dead." One of the men confirmed.

"Good. Let's go." Another one of them said. The men close the doors and walk away.

After another thirty seconds have passed, Illya snaps her eyes open and gasps for air. She gets up from her seat and looks down at her bloodied clothes. She does not have any wounds on her body and fortunately for her, she managed to coat some of her mother's blood onto her clothes in time before those men walk over to check if she is truly dead.

Illya turns to her mother who is still lying on the driver's seat in grave pain. "MOM!" She cried in horror as she grabs her shoulders and pulls her up. Irisviel coughed heavily as blood trickled down at the sides of her mouth. Illya widens her eyes and drops her jaw in horror as the pool of blood on her clothes grew larger.

"No! Mom! Hang in there! I'll call an ambulance right now!" Illya shouted in pure terror.

"Ki…hara…" Irisviel managed to utter as she stared blankly at her daughter.

Illya fell silent as she heard a familiar name coming out from her mother. "What?"

"It must…be…Kihara…"

Illya stared at her mother, appalled by what she had said. Her boss had sent people to kill her? But why? After everything she had done for him, this is how he repaid her?

Irisviel struggled to speak as her breathing became irregular. "Illya…I'm…sorry…I got you…into this…"

"Mom…No…" Illya whispered as tears began forming in her eyes.

"I…I love you…"

Illya bit down on her lower lip. "I love you too."

After letting out her final breath, Irisviel closes her eyelids and her head slumps to the side.

"Mom? MOM!" Illya screamed as she frantically shook her mother. When she didn't get any response from her, Illya broke down and sob uncontrollably as she wraps her arms around her mother's lifeless body and cried on her shoulder.

* * *

Illya grits her teeth as she opens her eyes. As she lifts her head up, her brows furrowed as she glared at Kirei.

"This is just how we do things. This is how we create reformation. You just need the will and pride to do that." Kirei concluded.

Unable to control her anger any longer, Rin lets out a scream and fires her pistol repeatedly at Kirei. Kirei swiftly draws out his long sharp knives and deflects the bullets as he swings his arms. Rin kept firing until her gun ran out of ammunition. Kirei backs away and gets into his fighting stance while holding up his knives in front of his face.

Rin snarled as she lowers her gun. "Spare me your bullshit speech! I will never forgive you for what you did to me and my family! I'll fucking kill you so that I can drag you to hell and meet my parents!"

"Then come at me." Kirei said flatly.

Saber, Ricky, Chulainn and Illya began firing their guns at Kirei. Kirei ran off to the side and swings his left arm diagonally, throwing his knives at them. Shirou turns around and tackles Yukari to the floor. The others jump out of the way. Saber, Ricky and Rin manage to escape unharmed. But unfortunately, two knives managed to slash through the legs of Chulainn and Illya.

As Chulainn and Illya fell onto the floor and struggle to get back up, Saber and Ricky aim their guns and fire at Kirei again.

"Stay out of this." Shirou said to Yukari as he gets off of her.

"I have to at least do something. I am a part of this team after all." Yukari said as she gets up from the floor.

Shirou glances at Kirei dodging the bullets that Saber and Ricky are firing at him before turning back to her. "Maybe you can." He said.

Kirei draws out some more knives from underneath his coat and throws them at Saber and Ricky, who both dodge them by turning to the side and leaning back their heads. The two fire their guns at Kirei again. Kirei deflects the bullets with his knives and charges at the two. Ricky and Saber lower their guns and sprint towards Kirei. When they are near each other, Ricky jumps in the air and throws his fist at Kirei's face.

Kirei holds up his knives in front of his face to block his punch, but the impact is able to knock him back. Kirei slams the knives in his right hand onto the floor, leaving a trail of scratches as he brings himself to a halt. When Ricky and Saber are near him, they draw their guns and aim at his head. As they pull the trigger, Kirei quickly responds by swinging his knives in both hands upwards to deflect their guns, causing them to fire at the ceiling instead.

Kirei kicks Ricky in the gut, causing him to stumble backwards. Saber tried to swing her left fist at Kirei, but he swiftly holds up the knives in his right hand to block her punch. He swings the knives in his other hand diagonally at Saber. She howls in pain as Kirei successfully leaves three diagonal slashes across her suit.

"Saber!" Ricky cried as he watched her turn around and fell to the floor. Kirei turns around and tried to swing his knives horizontally at Ricky. Ricky quickly defends himself by lifting up his knee and blocking his knives with his kneepad. However, this allows Kirei to kneel down and sweeps his leg across the floor as he turned, tripping Ricky to the floor. Kirei stood up and tried to bring his knives down onto Ricky, but he was interrupted by a ferocious yell.

"KIREI!" Kirei looks up and sees Rin running over to him and punches him across the face with her left fist. The blow causes Kirei to turn around and bend forward. Rin turns to Kirei and kicks him in the face with her knee. As Kirei gets back up, he turns to Rin and swings his knives diagonally at her. Rin dodges them by backing away. She whirled around and swings her leg diagonally at Kirei. Kirei dodges the kick by turning to the side.

He lunges the knives in his right hand at Rin. Rin turns to the side and leans her head back, but the knives managed to slash through her chest. Despite the pain, Rin quickly throws herself forward and clings onto Kirei's right arm.

As he tries to break free, Ricky runs over and tries to deliver a punch at him. Kirei blocks his right fist with his left forearm. When he sees his attempt had failed, Ricky lifts his left leg and tries to kick him. Kirei quickly responds by swinging his left leg to deflect his kick. While his left leg is still up in the air, he proceeds to deliver a kick to Ricky's abdomen. Ricky gasped in pain as he is sent flying through the air and rolling over the floor.

As he turns back to Rin, Kirei thrusts the knives in his left hand at her stomach. This causes Rin to release his arm as she quickly backs away to dodge the attack. Kirei swings the knives in his right hand diagonally at Rin. She turns to the side to dodge the attack, but Kirei swiftly swings the knives in his other hand across her right shoulder. She screamed in pain and swings her left fist at Kirei. Kirei shifts to the side and swings the knives in his right hand horizontally at her. Rin groans and backs away after Kirei left three horizontal slashes across her lower body. Kirei finishes it off by delivering a kick to her stomach, sending her falling to the floor.

"RIN!" Illya screamed in horror as she finally gets back up on her feet. As Kirei turns around, Illya holds up her minigun and fires at him. He dodges the bullets by leaping sideways and doing a flip through the air. Shortly after, Illya ran out of bullets and tosses her minigun aside just as Kirei lands back on the floor and charges up to her. The two slam their forearms against each other and they stayed at a stalemate.

"You guys think you're pure just because you fight for justice? Tell me, how many people have you shot along the way before coming here? Even you have to sacrifice a part of yourself to become who you are now." Kirei said sternly.

Illya gasped as she is immediately reminded of her mother. Her face distorts into a scowl as she grits her teeth. "Don't you dare say that! You do not achieve something through the blood of innocent people!" She snapped.

Kirei manages to push Illya back and as he whirls around, he delivers a kick across her face, sending her stumbling to the side. Illya quickly recovers and charges up to Kirei.

As she does, Kirei prepares to swing his knives, but Chulainn runs up to him from behind and throws a punch at the back of his head. As he bends forward, Illya delivers an uppercut and punches him directly in his face. Kirei quickly recovers from the blow as he gets back up. He swings his knives at Chulainn as he turns around. Chulainn dodges the attack by backing away. Just as he turns his back on Illya, she jumps up and kicks his upper back, causing Kirei to stumble forward and drop his knives. Chulainn takes the opportunity to grab the sides of his head and bends Kirei forward.

Before Chulainn brings up his knee, Kirei grabs his arms and pushes them away. He quickly gets up and throws himself back as Chulainn brings up his knee. Kirei turns around and swings his left fist at Illya. Illya blocks his fist with her forearms. Kirei turns back to Chulainn and delivers a kick to his abdomen, sending him stumbling backwards. Illya pushes Kirei's fist back and swings her left fist at him. Kirei deflects Illya's fist with his left hand and quickly delivers an uppercut to the bottom of her jaw with his right fist. Illya groans as she is sent stumbling backwards. Kirei grabs Illya's right arm and turns around to Chulainn, tossing her over to him. Both Illya and Chulainn collided against each other and they fall to the floor.

Suddenly, Kirei swiftly turns to the side as a bullet flew right pass him. As he kneels down on a knee, Shirou reloads his sniper rifle and fires another round. Kirei swiftly draws out three more knives from underneath his coat with his left hand and deflects the bullet. He turned and nonchalantly walks towards Shirou as he draws out another three knives from his coat with his other hand. Every time Shirou fires a shot at him, Kirei would deflect it with his knives. When he is near him, Kirei delivers an overhead strike with his knives and Shirou blocks them by holding up and clashing against them with his sniper rifle. Shirou struggles to maintain his balance as Kirei is pushing him down with all of his strength.

"Is that really all you can do towards me?" Kirei asked before lifting up his left knee and delivers a hard kick to Shirou's face.

Despite now having a bruise on right cheek, Shirou turns back to Kirei and flashes a quick smirk. "It was never intentional."

To his surprise, Kirei felt a knife stabbed through the back of his left shoulder. He yells in pain as he drops his knives, allowing Shirou to get back up and swings his sniper rifle across Kirei's face. After Kirei stumbles to the side, he turns back to Shirou who is now standing beside Yukari. The woman is holding onto one of his knives which he realized he had thrown at them earlier.

"You…" Kirei growled at Yukari who simply glares back at him. He winced as he uses his left hand to draw out another three knives from underneath his coat. But as soon as he does, Rin lets out a savagely fierce cry as she runs up to Kirei from his left and punches him across the face.

Kirei stumbles to the side again and throws his knives at Rin as he quickly recovers. As Rin dodges the knives by rolling over the floor, Kirei howls in agony as he felt the pain coming from the wound Yukari had given upon him.

Chulainn takes the opportunity to run up to him and kicks him in the gut with his knee. As Kirei bends over, Chulainn grabs him by his hair and pulls him back up. He throws him over to Rin who mercilessly delivers several punches across his face. Rin finishes it off by grabbing his collar and making Kirei look at her in the eye with several bruises now plastered on his face.

"Feel that?! That's from my parents." Rin said icily to Kirei before throwing her head back and bringing it down onto his forehead. Kirei yells in pain as Rin releases him and stumbles backwards, feeling as if a sledgehammer had slammed directly onto his forehead.

Before he even had a second to realize what had happened, Saber and Ricky run up to him from behind and place their hands on the back of his head. The two yell as they charge towards the other end of the room while pushing Kirei forward. When they reach, Saber and Ricky slams Kirei's face directly into the pair of doors and sends him flying into the next room as they burst through.

Kirei tumbled and rolled over the floor. When he got up, he sees Saber and her team walking up to him. Everyone looked around the room they had entered and widened their eyes in both bewilderment and horror.

Placed at both sides of the room in horizontal rows were large cylinder-shaped tanks filled with greenish liquid. But what horrified the visitors the most are what is inside them. Floating inside the tanks are adolescent boys and girls, dressed in white undergarments and have breathing masks covering their mouths as they are in a state of unconsciousness.

"W-w-what…what is this?" Ricky managed to utter as he trembled in horror. Memories of his encounter with Jack and Reika came flooding back into his head like a tsunami as he laid his eyes upon these human experiments.

After wiping off the blood from his forehead, Kirei explained, "These are our test subjects, all of them injected with our serum."

"They are all…young…" Saber said, sounding inexplicably frightened at the sight of this.

Rin snarled and shouted at Kirei, "You kidnapped them and turn them into living weapons, just like what you did to my sister!"

"Your sister, Sakura, was our crowning achievement." Kirei said to Rin. "She will serve as a fine example to all of them." He gestured to all the adolescents floating inside the tanks. "As well as creating a division of Justice of our own. The world may turn their back on Matou Industries right now, but after we have perfected them and introduce them to the world, everyone will realize that our purpose is to create peace, order and control."

"I'm ashamed of you!" Yukari cried at Kirei as she stomps her foot. Hot tears form in her eyes as she glared at him. "As adults, we are supposed to guide youths into becoming better people, not turn them into mindless tools!"

"They are better than they were before, Miss Yukino." Kirei said. "This is reformation."

"Shut up! I have enough of your fucking bullshit!" Rin bellowed. She draws out her M1911 pistol and aims it at Kirei. "You are just as worse as Zouken Matou. You deserve to die and rot in hell!"

"I guess it truly is fate that I would be killed by your hands." Kirei said solemnly. "After playing my part in destroying the lives of you and your family, it's only appropriate."

"Rider, are you seriously going to kill him?" Yukari said to her.

"Shut up!" Rin snapped at Yukari. "Of course I am! Saber is right! I lack the will and resolve to do what is necessary. That's why my sister ended up becoming what she is now!"

Saber lets out a small gasp as she drops her jaw. "Rider…" She murmured in shock and horror. Ricky and Chulainn also stared wordlessly at Rin.

"What are you saying?! What happened to Sakura wasn't your fault!" Shirou exclaimed at Rin.

"Yes it was!" Rin yelled at Shirou with her eyes shaking and her gun still pointing at Kirei. "I lack the capacity to become a better person, what my father wanted me to be! If I was better, I should have known to have gone with my father and Sakura that day! I should have stopped my mother from signing that contract with Kirei as well! If I had been better and smarter, none of this would ever happen! Neither Kirei nor Zouken Matou would have gotten away with this for so long!"

"ENOUGH!" Illya shouted. As Rin turns around, Illya swings her hand and gave a hard slap across her face. Rin stood there in utter shock for a few seconds before turning back to Illya who stared back at her with a solemn frown.

"Have you forgotten what you said to the boss back at Bordeaux? That you never wanted to become an insane killer?! God! I thought you're supposed to better than me!" Illya screamed at Rin as she throws her arms into the air.

"Ber…serker?" Rin uttered, unable to realize that tears are rolling freely down her cheeks.

"I may be as strong and smart as all of you. But even with all the wisdom and power in the world, we all still make mistakes. Do I hate making mistakes? Of course I do!" After taking a few deep breaths, Illya lowers her head and muttered, "I learnt that the hard way…by being partially responsible for my mother's death."

* * *

_**3 Years Ago…** _

_**Leipzig, Germany** _

Kihara opens the door and enters his home after returning from another day of work. A warm smile plastered across his face. With Irisviel von Einzbern and her daughter both dead, Kihara Gensei took all the credit for creating the cure to the rare disease which humanity have been trying to find for decades. All accolades including the Nobel Prize will surely be handed over to him for his contributions in helping humanity.

After taking off his hat and coat and hanging them at a nearby rack, Kihara turns to the left and heads into the dark living room. He places his suitcase down and turns on the lights. He gasps and widens his eyes in surprise, discovering that he isn't the only person present in his home. Sitting on the couch was a familiar white-haired girl in a purple shirt and white skirt. She turns her head to the old man with a furious scowl.

"Hello, Mr. Kihara." The girl said icily.

"You're Illyasviel von Einzbern, aren't you?" Kihara realized aloud.

Illya rises up from the couch and slowly walks over to him. "You sent people to kill me and my mother, didn't you?" She inquired.

"No!" Kihara quickly replied as he slowly backs away. "I…I'm sorry for your loss. What happened to Irisviel was-"

"NO MORE LIES!" Illya bellowed. She swiftly draws out a pistol and aims it at Kihara, causing the old man to tremble in fear. As he took another step backwards, his back is pressed against the wall.

Kihara took a hard gulp. "Y-y-yes. It was me." He admitted. Illya's teeth broke out into a ferocious snarl. "Yesterday, your mother and I discuss who should take the credit in creating the serum. I said I should be the one since I am the leader, but your mother insist you and our entire team should-" Kihara stopped himself mid-sentence when Illya slides back her pistol.

"You…" Illya growled. "You killed my mother. You killed someone of my flesh and blood. You killed the only person who took good care of me after my father died. I will never forgive you."

Kihara narrows his eyes and grits his teeth. "So what?! It was you!" He shouted and jabs a finger accusingly at her. "You are the one who solved the equation which led to the creation of the cure!"

Illya widens her eyes and drops her jaw in pure terror. Kihara grins malevolently as he continued, "That's right! If it wasn't for you, we would have never created the cure, and your mother and I would have never got into that argument, which led me to kill her!"

"No..." Illya said with her voice shaking. "T-t-t-that's not true!"

"Yes, it's true!" Kihara shouted with widened eyes and an evil grin. "You played a part in your mother's death! All of this happened because of you! Don't deny it! You are just as guilty as-"

"SHUT UP!" Illya shrieked. No longer having the sense of restraint, Illya pulls the trigger and a bullet shot through right below where Kihara's heart is located. Kihara gasped in pain as he collapses onto the floor. A trail of blood is smeared on the wall as he fell. Kihara looks up in sheer terror as Illya walks up to him and slides back her pistol.

"No! STOP!" Kihara begged for mercy. But Illya didn't care. Her mind had snapped after listening to Kihara's accusations. When Kihara sees Illya standing above him, the girl holds up her pistol to his forehead. "Please! STOP!"

Illya lets out a scream of rage as she proceeds to fire the remaining rounds inside her pistol at Kihara, not caring about the blood that is splattered on her face and clothes.

* * *

"I had to handle the responsibility for what I've done every single day. It hits me mentally every time just thinking about it." Illya said hoarsely to Rin. "But do you know what still kept me alive right now? All of you. Archer…Saber…Lancer…Assassin…Caster…even you, Rider."

Rin and the others stared silently at Illya for a few moments. Eventually, Rin lowers her head and sniffed as more tears began forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry, everyone. I just…" She is soon cut off when Saber places her hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright." Saber said softly. "I know how you feel."

Kirei chuckled after listening to their conversation, causing everybody to look back at him. "You made a grave mistake, yet you had the strength to bear the responsibility for your actions. I admired that." His eyes softened. "I guess if I had been just like you, I never would have become what I am now. I was actually once a lawyer and I wanted to be the best. But along the way, I realized that working in the law is like politics. No matter how much you fight, agree or disagree, you can't stop someone from passing something unless you have greater power than them. Same goes for the law. No matter how much you fight or defend, criminals will only be proven guilty or innocent if you have enough evidence. That is why I find no hope in achieving peace through being a lawyer, and I gave up."

"Tch." Saber snorted. "I'm not going to lie. I was just like you. I was once a police officer. But I quit when I felt that the Justice system isn't working at all. Looking back now, I wish I hadn't. I realized that killing people won't bring back the people you cared about and the people you wish you could save and protect. It will only make you constantly dwell on the past every day, and you will never truly find peace in doing so. And that is why you are pathetic, Kirei. You gave up not because you don't believe in the system. You gave up because you're sick and tired of failure, and resort to other means to achieve what you what."

"The wrong way in doing so." Chulainn added as he folds his arms.

"Indeed. Creating more weapons isn't creating peace for everyone and yourself. Where's the happiness in that?" Yukari said.

Kirei frowns and lowers his head. "I guess…if we had met each other in different circumstances…we could have…" Suddenly, Kirei's eyes widened. As he gets up, he draws out his knives and charged at Saber and her team.

"LOOK OUT!" Saber shouted as she and her teammates draw out their guns. But before they could fire, Kirei turned around when he got near them. As the doors at the other end of the room opened, Kirei tried to hold up his knives in front of him. But he failed to defend himself in time as a knife flew swiftly through the air and it plunged right into his chest.

"Kirei!" Saber cried in horror.

"Gagh!" Kirei choked as he looks down at the knife stabbed through the center of his chest. Blood began trickling down from the sides of his mouth.

"Sakura!" Rin cried. Saber and the others look up and see Sakura standing at the doorway.

"Sir! Sakura shouted at Kirei with her eyes wide. "That knife was supposed to be for her!" She points her finger at Saber. "Why did you do that?!" Kirei is unable to respond as he fell on his knees.

"I…ugh…" Kirei groaned in unbearable pain.

"You would lower your guard to our enemies? You let me down, Kirei Kotomine."

Saber and her team gasp as they see the old man coming out from the side of the doorway and walking over to Sakura.

"Zouken Matou…" Saber uttered with her eyes narrowed.

"Matou-sama…you can't…" Kirei tried to protest, but as he finally slips into unconsciousness, he rolls his eyes back and he slumps onto the floor.

"Tch." Zouken snorted as he looks down at Kirei's motionless body. "I never thought my most trusted ally would show his signs of weakness during a fight. People like him aren't fit to survive in this world."

"You show no remorse to someone who has shown loyalty to you? You really are inhuman." Shirou growled.

"Aren't we all?" Zouken asked, looking up at his intruders. "This world we live in is all about survival of the fittest. Even an inkling of weakness will have dire consequences for all of us. You do whatever it takes to stay rich and powerful! That is how we keep changing the world every day!"

Zouken glances at Sakura as he places his hand on her shoulder. "Sakura, kill them all." Zouken said, turning back to Saber and her team.

"Sis, please don't do this." Rin pleaded.

Zouken turns back to Sakura as she breathed heavily. She glares at Rin and her teammates, clearly showing hostility, but at the same time, also with confusion.

"You heard me. Kill them!" Zouken ordered again as he pulls out a remote from his pocket. Ricky widens his eyes as he noticed this. Zouken presses the button on the remote and suddenly, Sakura throws her head back and scream in rage. As she looks back at Saber and her team, she draws out her knives from underneath her sleeves and charges towards them.

Sakura lunges her knife towards Rin, who dodges the attack by turning to the side. Her other teammates jump and dive out of the way. As the fight began, Zouken casually turns around and leave as the doors close behind him.

While Sakura is busy swinging her knives at Rin, who is dodging her attacks, Ricky turns to Saber and yelled, "Saber! Zouken Matou has a remote that is controlling Sakura! It's definitely the same device I saw one of his employees using on Jack back in Siberia! We have to go after him!"

Saber nodded and turns to Shirou, Chulainn, Illya and Yukari. "Guys! Help Rider fight against Sakura! Assassin and I are going after Zouken!" The others nod their heads in response. They get up from the floor and run over to Sakura and Rin who are busy fighting each other.

"Let's go!" Saber yelled at her second-in-command. She and Ricky get up from the floor and run over to the pair of doors. As they go nearer towards the doors, Saber could feel her anger and determination building up inside her. Today is the day their feud with Matou Industries ends.

"ZOUKEN!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter is a lot longer than I expected. And I've also realized it has already been a year since I've first started writing this story. I want to thank everyone who has been reading and following this story and stay tune for the final part of the Germany story arc.
> 
> Kihara Gensei is a character from _Toaru Kagaku no Railgun_.


	25. Germany, Part 3

"Sakura! You've got to snap out of it!" Rin shouted as she pushed away another one of Sakura's arms as she swung.

"SHUT UP!" Sakura bellowed with her eyes wide as she throws another diagonal swing of her knife at Rin. Rin turns to the side and swings her left fist at Sakura's face. As Sakura stumbled backwards, Chulainn and Shirou run up to her from behind and grab her arms.

"Sakura, please listen to her! She is your sister!" Shirou yelled at Sakura.

"I said shut up!" Sakura shouted again. With all of her strength, she managed to break free of the tight grips of Shirou and Chulainn. Sakura throws her fists back, knocking them into the faces of Shirou and Chulainn. As both men stumbled backwards, Sakura tried to turn and swing her knife at Shirou. But Rin quickly grabs her right arm, stopping her from swinging her weapon.

Shirou quickly recovers from the blow and throws his fist into Sakura's gut. She gasped in pain as she bends over and drops her knife. Shirou delivers an uppercut to the bottom of her jaw and Sakura throws her head back.

"I'm sorry, Rider." Shirou said apologetically to Rin.

"Don't be." Rin replied before swinging her leg horizontally to Sakura's gut. After taking a few steps back, Sakura turns to her right in time to see Illya running over to her.

Illya swings her fists at Sakura, who deflects both of her punches. She swiftly grabs Illya by her collar and sees Chulainn running over to her from behind. She turns around and tosses Illya over to him. The two collided against each other and fall to the ground.

Shirou and Rin ran up to her, but Sakura turned and jump in the air. She throws both of her legs at Shirou and Rin and successfully kick them both in the chests. As Sakura lands on the floor on her back, she quickly jumps herself back up to her feet. Suddenly, Sakura tilts her body to the side to dodge a bullet coming from behind. She whirled about and sees Yukari holding up Rin's M1911 pistol.

"You…I've never forgotten that punch you threw at my face." Sakura said icily to Yukari.

Yukari tried to pull the trigger again, but Sakura charges up to her and grabs her arm. She gave Yukari's arm a twist, causing her to cry in pain as she drops the pistol. Sakura proceeds to throw a powerful punch to Yukari's stomach, sending her flying through the air and slamming against one of the glass cylinder tubes behind her. Yukari groans as she fell onto her knees and slumps onto the floor.

"Caster!" Both Chulainn and Illya cried as the latter helped the man get back up to his feet.

"Dammit Sakura! Stop it!" Rin shouted as she and Shirou get back up as well. Shirou grits his teeth as he clutches his chest.

"I'll kill you." Sakura growled as she turned back to the four, glaring at them with wide, malicious eyes. "I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"

As the four get back into their fighting stances, Sakura charges at them again, preparing to finish them once and for all.

* * *

Ricky and Saber burst through the doors and find themselves in another large room. This time, it is a normal waiting room with two leather sofas and three large vases of flowers placed neatly at each side of the room. The floor is covered with a large red flat carpet and Victorian-style lamps are installed onto the walls.

They see Zouken slowly walking his way to another large pair of doors at the other end of the room. Saber shouted as she and Ricky draw out and aim their pistols at him, "Stop right where you are!"

"No one orders me what to do, for I am above everyone!" Zouken responded as he continued walking towards the doors.

Saber growled and proceeded to fire a bullet at Zouken's back. However, a masked mercenary suddenly jumps down from the ceiling, lands behind Zouken and deflects the bullet with his machete. Soon after, four more masked men, also armed with machetes, jump down and landed behind Saber and Ricky. Saber and Ricky turn around and hold onto their guns tightly.

"Get rid of these pests." Zouken said to the masked mercenary standing behind him.

"Yes sir." The mercenary replied. The five masked men move and surround Ricky and Saber in a circle as Zouken pushes the doors open and entered his office. As the doors close, Ricky and Saber press their backs against each other and hold their guns close to their chests.

"You ready?" Saber asked her second-in-command.

Ricky smirked at his leader. "I've been through worse."

Saber chuckled. They hold out their guns and began firing at the five masked men. The men run out of the way to evade the bullets.

Two of them charge over to Saber and swing their machetes vertically at her. Saber deflects their machetes with her Glocks. She fires one of her guns at one of the men who turned to the side to dodge the bullet, but Saber quickly kicks him in the gut, causing him to stumble backwards. The other man tried to swing his machete at Saber again, but Ricky turned to him and fires his revolver. The bullet shot the machete out of his hand and Ricky goes over to swing his fist across his face, sending him rolling over to the floor.

One masked mercenary runs over to Ricky and swings his machete vertically at him. Ricky turns to him and deflects the machete with his revolver. He quickly aims his revolver at the mercenary's face and fires a shot, killing him instantly. As the masked man falls to the floor, Ricky turns to his left and clashes his revolver with another machete-wielding mercenary.

As the masked mercenary whom Saber kicked earlier recovered, the fourth and last man runs up to his side and they both swing overhead strikes with their machetes at Saber at the same time. Saber blocks their machetes with her Glocks and she backs away from them as she whirled around. The man whom Ricky punched earlier has since got up from the floor and runs over to Saber. Saber turns to him and tries to fire at him, but the man deflects her arm, causing her to fire at the floor instead. The man throws his left fist at Saber, who ducks down and delivers an uppercut to the bottom of his jaw as she got up. As the man stumbles backwards, one of the mercenaries swing his machete horizontally at her. Saber blocks the machete with her right Glock and aims her other gun at the man. She fires a bullet through his chest and the man yells in pain as he falls to the floor.

Meanwhile, Ricky and one of the men continue swinging and clashing their weapons at each other. The masked mercenary swings his machete diagonally at Ricky and successfully knocks his revolver out of his hand. Ricky gasps and quickly backs away as the masked mercenary swings his machete horizontally at him. The mercenary delivers another horizontal swing with his machete and Ricky ducks down to dodge it. He throws a punch to his gut, causing the mercenary to stumble backwards and drop his machete. The mercenary quickly recovers and vertically throws his fists down onto Ricky's back.

Ricky groans as he gets hit and the mercenary throws his leg up, kicking him in the face. As Ricky falls to the floor, the mercenary tries to throw his fist down on his face. Ricky evades him by rolling over to the side and grabs the machete from the floor with his left hand. Ricky quickly gets up and stabs the machete onto the mercenary's back. The mercenary yells in pain and Ricky removes his machete. He proceeds to stab him again, this time on his chest. As Ricky turned, he pins the mercenary down on the floor and sinks the machete lower into his chest. The mercenary made his final gasp before his head slumps to the side.

Saber fights off the last two men. One of the man swings his machete continuously at Saber, whom dodges them by backing away and turning to the side. When he finds himself standing beside the man whom Saber had killed earlier, he used his foot to sweep up the machete he dropped from the floor and grabs it with his left hand. He tosses the other machete in his right hand over to the unarmed man and he catches it.

The two men charge at Saber. One of them swings his machete horizontally at Saber, who quickly ducks down. The other man swings his machete diagonally at her and Saber rolls over the floor. Ricky, with his new machete, runs up to the two and swings his machete horizontally at them. The two men block his attack with their machetes. Saber gets back up and fires her Glocks at the two men, who deflect her bullets with their weapons. One of them charge at Saber again and clashes his machete with her Glocks. Saber lifts her leg up and kicks him in the shin. The man yells as he fell on a knee. Saber takes the opportunity to aim one of her Glocks at the side of her head and fires a shot at him.

Finally, the last remaining masked mercenary swings his machete diagonally at Ricky, who deflects it with his own machete. As Ricky turned, he swings his leg diagonally at the side of the mercenary's head. As the mercenary gets hit and turns his head to the side, Ricky thrusts his machete into his stomach, causing him to yell in pain. Ricky grabs him by his hair and turns to the pair of doors that lead to Zouken's office. Ricky yells as he charges towards the doors while pulling the mercenary with him. When he is near them, Ricky removes his machete from the mercenary's stomach and tosses him over to the doors. The mercenary collides against the doors and rolls over the floor as he entered his boss's office, startling Zouken as he gets up from his seat behind his desk.

"What?!" Zouken said in shock. The mercenary groans as he tries to get up, but Saber tosses Ricky's revolver over to her second-in-command. Ricky catches it and fires a shot at the back of the mercenary's head.

"It's over, Zouken." Saber said flatly. Zouken growls as he opens the drawer from his desk and tries to pull out his pistol. Ricky quickly reacts by throwing the machete at him. Zouken gasps and froze in horror as the machete barely misses him by the side of his head and stabs through his seat instead.

"Stop resisting, you old fart." Ricky said, aiming his revolver at him. "Now hand us the remote!"

* * *

Sakura successfully kicks Illya in the chest which sends her sprawling through the floor. Chulainn runs over to her and throws his left fist at Sakura, who blocks it with her left forearm. She pushes his fist back and swings her right fist at him, punching Chulainn across his face. Sakura swiftly throws her left fist into his abdomen, and finally finishes by doing a backwards somersault and kicking him at the bottom of his jaw. Chulainn collapses onto the floor.

Shirou runs over to Sakura and delivers a series of punches at her. Sakura swiftly dodges the punches by either ducking or turning to the side. When Shirou swings his fist once more, Sakura grabs his arm and tosses him over her shoulder, slamming him onto the floor. She lifts her foot up and prepares it bring it down, but Rin suddenly runs up to her and swings her left fist at her. Sakura quickly dodges the attack by releasing Shirou's arm and whirling around to the side. When Sakura turns back to Rin, she sees her opponent staring back at her with a sad frown.

"Don't look at me like that!" Sakura snapped.

"I don't want to hurt you. You are my sister." Rin tried to reason with her.

"No, you're not!" Sakura yelled back. She charges towards her and successfully lands a punch at Rin's right cheek.

"Rider!" Shirou cried as he helplessly watched Rin stumbled backwards. He struggled to get up as the blow Sakura delivered to his back earlier was too strong and painful to endure.

"You are my enemy!" Sakura yelled again as she throws another punch at Rin's left cheek.

"I love you, Sakura." Rin said under her breath. Sakura screamed in rage as she throws an uppercut to the bottom of Rin's jaw, sending her flying through the air and landing on the floor on her back.

Sakura kneels down above Rin and continued punching across her face mercilessly. Rin couldn't fight back as she doesn't have the will to fight her sibling. She simply lies on the floor, taking every hit her sister lands on her face. Sakura pulls her fist back, ready to throw one final punch at her.

Suddenly, Sakura halted in mid-punch when she felt a strange energy surging through her body. She instantly screams in agony as she throws herself back. Rin looked up at her in both bewilderment and horror.

"Sakura?" Rin uttered as Sakura clutches the sides of her head.

"What's happening to her?" Chulainn asked as he, Illya, Shirou and Yukari got up to their feet.

"It m-must be Z-Zouken's remote." Kirei answered as he slowly got up from the floor despite the knife still stabbed through his chest.

"Kirei?" Illya said before she and Yukari rush over to him. As Yukari grabs Kirei's shoulders, Illya swiftly pulls out the knife from his chest and tosses it aside.

Kirei groans in pain and continued, "T-two of your teammates…m-must have stopped him."

Rin got up from the floor and places her hands on Sakura's shoulders. "Sakura, please! Listen to me! Get a hold of yourself!" She cried pleadingly.

"Get off of me!" Sakura shouted as she swipes Rin's left arm off of her.

But Rin grabs her left shoulder again and gazes at her. "Sakura, it's okay! I'm here for you!" She cried at her sister again. However, Sakura just kept screaming, completely ignoring Rin's pleas and still throwing her head around and clutching the sides in intolerable pain.

Rin's eyes softened as she watched her sister. "Sakura…please…please come back to me." She whispered. In one final attempt to calm her down, Rin closes her eyelids and pulls her sister into a tight embrace. Sakura snaps her eyes open and stops shaking. Her screams soon die down as she felt the warmth of Rin's embrace.

"No matter what you've become, whatever you've been through…I will always be your sister." Rin choked as tears form through her closed eyelids. As Sakura lowers her arms, she looks down and sees Rin resting her head on her right shoulder. Before she knew it, the pain that was surging through her body had disappeared and she widens her eyes as several memories came flooding back into her mind. Just by taking a glance at the woman who is hugging her tightly, she immediately recognized her.

"Rin?"

Rin looks up at Sakura, who stared back at her in confusion. A huge smile takes form on her face as tears freely roll down her cheeks. But the tears weren't of sorrow and despair, but joy and relief.

"Sakura?" Rin whispered.

"Sis. It's you." Sakura said. "What happened?"

Rin chuckled and hugs her sister again. "Long story." She replied. Despite not knowing what is going on, Sakura couldn't help but smile as well. She wraps her arms around Rin and rests her head on her shoulder.

"Aww, what do you know? They're back together again." Illya smiled as she places her hands behind the back of her head. Chulainn gave a gentle knock on the top of Illya's head.

"Quiet down, Berserker. Let 'em have their moment of peace." Chulainn smirked.

Yukari sighed happily as she and Shirou turn to each other. "She got her sister back." She remarked.

"Indeed." Shirou nods his head. Not caring about the others watching them from a distance, Rin and Sakura continued to stay in their warm embrace, never wanting to let go of each other.

" _Lancer? Can you hear me?"_

Chulainn places his finger on his earpiece as he continued staring at the two sisters. "I do, boss."

" _What happen to Sakura?"_

"She's fine now. She is back to her normal self. Let's just say, she and Rin are having a tearful reunion right now."

* * *

"That's good to know. Assassin and I have secured Zouken Matou. When you're all done, meet up with us at his office."

Saber lowers her hand and turns back to Zouken, who sat at his chair with Ricky standing beside him and holding up his revolver at the side of his head.

"You have lost control over Sakura and we have taken over this facility. You're finished, Zouken." Saber said.

"And what are you planning to do now? Kill me?" Zouken growled.

Saber narrows her eyes as she stares wordlessly at him. A few seconds later, she holds up her Glock and aims at his forehead. Ricky closes his eyes and grits his teeth. He lowers his revolver and turns to Saber.

"Boss, stop." He said as he opens his eyes.

"What?" Saber asked, glaring at Ricky while still holding up her Glock at her target.

"Saber, I know I said back at Berlin that I agreed with you in killing Zouken. But after listening to Berserker…I'm sorry. I've changed my mind. Even if we kill him, it will never bring Jack and Reika back to life. We should keep Zouken alive." Ricky said.

"You can't be serious!" Saber shouted at him. "Zouken Matou had harmed and killed thousands of innocent people through his sick methods of creating the Od serum! He used children to do his dirty work! He kidnapped adolescents and turned them into living weapons! How can you let a monster like him live?!"

"If we kill him now, what will happen to the other secret factories around the world?! We still don't know the locations of every single one of them! And even if Zouken dies now, his company may find another way to continue their operations without him!" Ricky protested.

"But what if Zouken had some trick up his sleeve to free himself from the hands of Justice?! What then?!" Saber argued. She glares back at Zouken. "If he does, how will every innocent person he had harmed find peace?! How will they be truly free from the pain and torment they had went through by his sick man?!"

There was a moment of tense silence within the office, until a voice spoke, "No, there won't be any way Zouken can get himself out of this."

Saber turned around and sees Sakura, Rin, Illya, Shirou, Yukari and Chulainn at the doorway. Kirei is also with them as Chulainn is carrying him with his arm wrapped around his back.

"Guys." Ricky said as he sees his teammates standing at the doorway.

"Kirei and I will stand trial alongside Zouken." Sakura continued. "Although I have regained my memories, I cannot deny the fact that I have been working as an important asset for Zouken Matou." She lowered her head in guilt and remorse. "I will willingly turn myself in and explain every detail about Zouken's operations to the authorities." Rin smiled as she places her hand on Sakura's back, assuring her that everything will be fine even if her sister were to be locked up behind bars for her involvement in Matou Industries' crimes.

Kirei gave a solemn nod to Chulainn. Chulainn turns to Saber and added, "Kirei will as well."

"Damn you!" Zouken yelled furiously at Sakura and Kirei as he slams his fist on his desk. "Damn you both! How could you do this to me?!"

"Looks like you got a morale issue here, Zouken Matou." Shirou smirked at him.

"It's time to face facts." Illya glared at the old man as she places her fists at the sides of her hips. "You are defeated."

"It's over." Yukari added, giving a small smile to Saber as she nods her head.

Saber stared at them for a few moments before letting out a sigh. She knows her teammates are right. Thanks to Sakura and Kirei willing to give their testimonies, Zouken Matou is finished no matter what he tries to do. Justice will be served and Matou Industries will truly come to an end.

"Yes." Saber's eyes softened as she turned back to Zouken and Ricky. "It is over."

Zouken snarled at everyone present in the room before lowering his head in defeat. "No, it can't be…" Zouken muttered, refusing to accept the truth. "My dream for this world…it's…"

_**BANG!** _

To everyone's shock and horror, a bullet had shot through Zouken's chest. With his eyes wide as saucers, Zouken coughed as he slowly lowers his head and stares at the hole through his chest in mortified horror. As his body trembled, Zouken gasped for air as blood trickled down the sides of his mouth.

"N-n-n-no…it can't be…My dream…" Zouken said weakly. Soon after, another bullet was fired. This time, it went right through the center of his forehead. Zouken rolls his eyes back as he leans back on his chair. His breathing ceased and his head tilted limply to the side as Zouken Matou sat on his chair dead.

Everyone turn to the right corner of the room and see Gilgamesh standing there, holding up his USP. Saber widens her eyes and drops her jaw as she stares at him dumbfounded.

After inserting his USP back into his pocket, Gilgamesh gave a slow, mocking clap to everyone present in Zouken's office. "Bravo guys, bravo. I feel like I just watched a spectacular, award-winning performance."

"Who the hell are you?!" Ricky yelled as he aims his revolver at him.

"Gilga…mesh…" Kirei managed to say as he looked at the man who had appeared before them.

"What?" Chulainn said to Kirei.

Gilgamesh glares at Saber as he folds his arms. "In all seriousness though, I knew you couldn't pull the trigger, Saber baby. I am very disappointed in you." He said coldly.

"Saber? You know him?!" Shirou asked Saber as he and the other members of the team look at her in both shock and confusion.

"I…I…" Saber tried to speak, but she couldn't.

"I should have expected that you hanging out with your new friends will eventually change you." Gilgamesh narrows his eyes and grits his teeth. "You should know your place!" He bellowed as he jabs a finger at Saber. "I was the one who taught you! Train you! Made you who you are today! I  _own_  you! And yet, you finally become soft. Even though we made a promise that we would wipe off all evil in this world together!"

Ricky drops his jaw in utter disbelief as he stares at Gilgamesh. "T-t-that…that is same promise Saber and I made together…" He said. He turned back to Saber and demanded, "Saber! What is the meaning of this?!"

Saber turns to Ricky, frowning in guilt and regret. "I'm sorry. You weren't first one I made that promise with." She responded. Ricky stared wordlessly at her, trying to comprehend what his leader had said.

"She's right." Gilgamesh said to Ricky. "Before she had you as her own apprentice, she was my student. And after that, she was using you and your friends to perform the mission we made together. Face it, you guys ain't her friends. You're all tools."

"Shut up! That's a lie!" Ricky shouted, aiming his revolver at Gilgamesh again.

"Bullshit!" Chulainn yelled.

"It's impossible!" Rin cried.

Gilgamesh turns to Rin and Sakura. "Oh hey! You're that girl Zouken ordered me to pick up back in California, right? When was that? 2 years ago? Sakura Tohsaka, right?" He asked with a mocking smile.

Both sisters gasp. "How do you know her?" Rin asked.

"I…I remember you now." Sakura said, gazing at Gilgamesh in horror.

"Oh? I am right! Bingo!" Gilgamesh grins as he pumps his fist into the air. "Yeah, I still remember that mission like it was yesterday! Zouken ordered me to wait in the middle of a desert until we see your father's car. And as soon as we saw him approaching, I drove my vehicle towards it and smash it like I was driving a monster truck. Surprisingly, you and your father manage to survive the crash. So I had to come out and finish the job by own hand."

Rin's eyes shook as she stares at Gilgamesh in shock and horror. After listening to his explanation, she could finally picture how the entire accident that took away her father's life played inside her head.

* * *

_**2 Years Ago…** _

_**Kings County, California, United States** _

As two masked mercenaries hide behind some bushes, they spotted Tokiomi's car driving down the road in the distance. One of them contacted Gilgamesh.

" _Gilgamesh, target sighted. Tokiomi and Sakura Tohsaka are approaching your vicinity. Remember, kill Tokiomi, but keep his daughter alive."_

"Aye." Gilgamesh replied before putting away his smartphone. He wraps his fingers around the steering wheel, steps on the pedal and drove his truck towards the side of the lone road.

As soon as he saw Gilgamesh's truck driving its way over to his path, Tokiomi steps on the brake and turns the steering wheel, trying to bring his car to a screeching halt. But it was too late as the car collided against the front of his truck. Despite wearing seat belts, Sakura and Tokiomi are thrown towards the front window and their heads smash against it before they sat back down on their seats.

Gilgamesh got out of the truck and walks over to the car. When he opened the left front door, He whistled as he sees Tokiomi and Sakura sitting on their seats with blood trickling down the side of their heads.

"W-w-who…are you?" Tokiomi asked weakly as he looked at Gilgamesh with his eyelids flittering.

Gilgamesh didn't reply as he pulls out his brass knuckles from his pocket. Tokiomi could only sit there, helplessly staring back at Gilgamesh in horror with his mouth agape. Gilgamesh proceeds to deliver several hard punches to his forehead, smashing his skull and causing huge amounts of blood to drip down his face. Sakura sat in her own seat, watching her father being murdered in sheer terror.

Gilgamesh backs away when Tokiomi is finally dead with his cold, lifeless eyes left opened and his head tilted to the side. As he casually wipes off the blood from his hand and puts away his brass knuckle, Gilgamesh goes over to the other side of the car. He opens the door and sees Sakura breathing heavily in fear as she stares back at him, completely frozen and traumatized by the horrific display she had just witnessed. Gilgamesh snorted before throwing a punch at her forehead, knocking her unconscious. He removes the seat belt and carried her into his truck. After setting her down on the passenger seat, Gilgamesh pulls out a timed bomb and a body bag from the bottom of the seats. He returns to the car and places the two items down on the road. He unzips the bag, revealing a charred body that is completely recognizable. He places the charred body onto the passenger seat and closes the door. Gilgamesh opens the front hatch of the car and places the timed bomb onto the engine. After setting the time, Gilgamesh closes the hatch and goes back to his truck.

He drives the truck away from the scene and a few minutes later, the car exploded. Gilgamesh picks up his phone and places it against his ear. "The girl is secured and the man is dead. Mission accomplished."

* * *

Rin's horrified look slowly distorts into an ugly scowl. She grits her teeth as she curls her hands into tight fists. "You…IT WAS YOU!" Rin roared at Gilgamesh. Without any second thoughts, she charged towards him, wanting nothing more but to give her father's killer a bloody pulp.

"Rider!" Saber cried as she extends out her hand to her.

Rin ignores her leader and she swings her fists at Gilgamesh. The man, keeping his sinister smile on his face, nonchalantly steps away from her every time she threw her punches at him. When Rin throws her fist one more time at him, Gilgamesh turns to the side for a moment to dodge the attack, and then swiftly grabs Rin by her throat. Rin's eyes grew wide as she choked under Gilgamesh's tight grip around her neck. Gilgamesh proceeds to slam Rin against the wall behind him and gave a hard punch to her stomach.

"NO!" Shirou and Illya both shouted in horror. Rin gasped in pain and Gilgamesh snorted at her.

"Pathetic." Gilgamesh commented. He turns to the side and tosses Rin, sending her rolling over the floor and stop in front of Yukari and Sakura, who quickly kneel down to her and carry her up.

"Rider! Are you alright?" Yukari asked in concern. Rin could only respond with a groan.

"Gilgamesh, please! I can explain-" Saber was soon cut off when Gilgamesh holds up his hand.

"I wish we could chat, but I'm sorry. I don't have the time in the world, for I have a mission to finish. And I'll do it without you, Arturia Pendragon." Gilgamesh said as he lowers his hand.

"SHUT UP!" Ricky shouted furiously one more time and he pulls the trigger of his revolver.

Before the bullet could hit Gilgamesh, someone drops down from the ceiling, lands right in front of him and deflects the bullet with one of his spears. The man has black swept back hair and dressed in a dark green sleeveless suit and black long boots. He wields two spears in his hands, one of them is ruby red and the other is gold.

"Diarmuid…" Saber murmured.

As Diarmuid got up, he throws his gold spear at Ricky. Ricky quickly rolls over the desk and lands on the floor below before the spear flew past him and stabbed through the wall behind him.

As Ricky goes over to the others, two more figures drop down from the ceiling and land behind Kirei, Saber and her team. One of them is a man with long blonde hair that goes all the way down to his waist and dressed in a crimson coat with a black suit and grey pants underneath it, a crimson top hat, black gloves and brown shoes. The other is a woman with long and wavy blonde hair and wears glasses, a dark blue suit and skirt and dark blue high hell shoes.

"Cornelius…Miriam…" Saber said as she turned to them. Cornelius pulls out a cane while Miriam draws out a machinegun.

As Diarmuid gets into his fighting stance with his ruby red spear, Gilgamesh sneers and waves his hand at Saber and her team. "This is the part where you all die now. Farewell, everyone." He said.

As soon as Diarmuid and Cornelius charge towards the group with their spear and cane, Sakura quickly takes out four smoke grenades and throws them onto the floor. Huge amounts of thick gray smoke consume the room, blinding the visions of Gilgamesh and his teammates.

Gilgamesh growls and yelled with his eyelids closed, "Don't just stand there! After them!"

After making a few coughs, Diarmuid and Cornelius squint their eyelids, brave through the smoke and run out of the room.

* * *

As Saber and her team run through the tank room with Sakura and Kirei, she and Ricky notice that the cylinder-shaped tanks are now emptied and the greenish liquid is spilled all over the floor. They also notice several trails of wet footprints that lead to the open doors at the other end of the room.

"Where are they?" Ricky asked as everyone ran.

"We released them shortly after our fight with Sakura. They're free now." Shirou replied.

"What do we do now? Should we fight back?" Illya asked.

"No. We're retreating. I know those men. Both Diarmuid and Cornelius are agile fighters and we are running out of ammunition to fight them anyway." Saber said.

"What about the crates of Od serum that are still in this facility?" Rin asked.

"I'm sorry. We don't have time to retrieve or destroy them." Saber said regretfully.

Everyone step out and find themselves back in the same room where Saber and her team fought with Kirei before.

"If we keep running straight, they will eventually catch up to us!" Yukari panicked.

"What do we do then?!" Chulainn yelled.

"Turn to your right." Kirei responded weakly as he leans his head against Chulainn.

Sakura gasped. "Of course! One of our emergency exits!" She turns to the wall and gestures everyone to follow her. They run over and upon closer inspection, there is a small camera installed on it. As soon as the camera makes contact with Sakura's face, a small section of the wall flips over and reveals a scanner. Sakura quickly places her hand on it.

" _Authorization confirmed. Sakura Matou."_  A computerized voice said. Everyone steps back as a huge section of the wall slides open, revealing a hollow passageway.

"Come on!" Sakura shouted. Chulainn held Kirei close to him as everyone quickly enter the passageway.

"There you are!" Everyone could hear Diarmuid yell at them from behind. Sakura, Rin and Yukari turn to see him and Cornelius running towards them with their weapons.

"Ahahahaha! We found you!" Cornelius laughed manically.

"Go!" Sakura yelled as she roughly pushed Rin and Yukari. As soon as they and Sakura entered, the camera detected the presence of Diarmuid and Cornelius and the door swiftly slides down.

"NO!" Cornelius shouted and stomps his foot in frustration.

As Diarmuid thrusts his spear through the door, the computerized voice spoke,  _"Authorization invalid."_

"Oh shut up!" Cornelius screamed as he lunges his cane and breaks the camera.

* * *

Everybody sigh in relief as they walk through the passageway. With Gilgamesh and his men taking over Zouken's secret facility, there is nothing they can do now but flee.

"Where does this passageway lead to?" Saber asked.

"The forest, 60 kilometres away from the boundaries of Bautzen." Sakura replied.

"Good, let's keep moving." Saber said. But she soon came to a halt when she heard a click. Saber lets out a heavy sigh before turning around to see Ricky aiming his revolver at her. Ricky gave her a glare so dark and cold that it would make the others feel frozen. But Saber kept her composure as she looked at her second-in-command in the eyes.

"You will give us answers. Now!" Ricky yelled. Saber looked at the others standing behind him and they all stare back at her in confusion and suspicion, demanding information from her as well.

"Alright." Saber said, looking back at Ricky.

"Who was that guy? How do you know him? And what the fuck mission did you two made together?" Ricky inquired.

"His name is Gilgamesh. I knew him for 2 years, and before any of you, Kiritsugu and Maiya." Saber responded.

"No way." Illya uttered.

"I knew him shortly after I failed to stop the corrupt parliament member known as Mariah Dillard." Saber explained. "He offered me a chance to get what I want. To make Dillard pay for what she did to Cornell Stokes and Candace Miller. And back then, why wouldn't I want to pass on that opportunity? And after I finally kill her, I officially became a part of his team of mercenaries. While he was hired by Zouken Matou to eliminate Tokiomi Tohsaka, he discovered that his company was creating the Od serum. The serum fascinated him and he wants to use it to fulfil his team's purpose of existence by wiping out every scumbag on Earth, starting with the city that led him into a life of despair. London. He heard that Kiritsugu's organization had wanted to take down Zouken's company for years, so he hired me to join them. I became a member of Kiritsugu's organization shortly afterwards, formed this team and had been trying to complete the next objective of the mission Gilgamesh and I shared for the last 2 years."

"I don't believe it." Chulainn said, staring at Saber in mortified horror.

"You knew all along that Gilgamesh killed my father. How could you keep secrets from us?!" Rin cried, feeling betrayed as tears formed in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Rider. I never expect that fate would spit me in the face the day you joined the organization and assigned to become a member of my team." Saber said grimly as she lowers her head.

"Getting revenge comes with a heavy price. You should have known that, Saber." Yukari frowned.

"Everyone…I'm so sor-" As soon as Saber lifts her head up, she gets cut off when Ricky gave a hard slap across her face and places his revolver against the side of her head.

"I trusted you…" Ricky said, his voice shaking with rage. "I followed you…I admired you…I even fucking slept with you…but all along, for the last two years, you were actually using me and everyone around you! You are no different than every motherfucker out there in this world!" He bellowed at her. Saber quietly stood there, unable to protest as she heard nothing but the honest truth from him. She grimaced as she frowned in guilt and sorrow. "If I had known you were a piece of shit, I'm better off killing myself that day!"

Saber slowly turns her head back to Ricky. "You all can express your hatred towards me as much as you want later. But for now, we need to get out of here and find a way to get to England. Now that Gilgamesh has acquired the serum and missiles, he will begin his assault on London."

"Why should we still follow you?" Ricky narrows his eyes, wrapping his finger around the trigger of his revolver.

Saber stared at him silently for a brief moment. "Because I am your only chance in stopping him."

Rin, Shirou, Illya, Chulainn and Yukari looked at each other. Despite learning the awful truth behind their leader, they couldn't help but agree that what she said is true. If they are going to take down Gilgamesh, the only person who can help them is someone who personally knows him. Ricky gazed intensively at Saber for a few moments before he finally lowers his revolver. The others turn back to Saber and nod their heads as well. Saber quietly turned around and everyone continue walking down the passageway. None of them say another word as they make their way out.

* * *

When she reached the top of the ladder, Sakura places her hand on the scanner beside her and the hatch above them opened. Everyone climb out from the ground and find themselves in a forest of tall trees.

"Halt!"

Everyone turn around to see several men in black suits running over to them. They draw out their pistols and rifles as they surround them in a circle.

"I contacted my father and Maiya back when we discovered the crates of serum. They've tracked us down." Shirou said to his teammates. As the men aim their weapons at them, Kiritsugu and Maiya walk over.

"Arturia Pendragon," Kiritsugu said to Saber coldly with his hands behind his back. "We have much to discuss."

Saber sighs heavily and nods her head. "I know."

* * *

Back in the facility, Gilgamesh slides his hand across the missile in front of him. Behind him were several mercenaries, lying dead on the floor in their own pools of blood.

"We have killed every single one of them." Miriam said as she, Diarmuid and Cornelius walk over to him from behind. A huge grin plastered across Cornelius' face as he carried a dead unmasked mercenary by the back of his throat.

Cornelius grabs the bottom of the dead mercenary's jaw and opens it as he spoke to Gilgamesh in a high pitched voice, "What do we do now, boss?"

A frown takes form on Gilgamesh's face as he closes his eyelids. "Never forget what they did to us." He said to his teammates.

"Aye." Diarmuid said as he, Miriam and Cornelius lower their heads. Cornelius snarled as he vividly remembered the horrific incident that happened in their past. He tightens his grip around the dead man's throat and tosses his body aside.

"Damn those fuckers! Damn them all to hell!" Cornelius yelled.

Gilgamesh turns around and opens his eyes. As his teammates look up, a huge smile takes forms on his face.

"Come, my friends. It's time for London to share our pain."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I return, get ready for the final story arc...


	26. The Prelude

_**2 Years Ago…** _

_**London, England, United Kingdom** _

Late at night, Arturia Pendragon, dressed in her casual clothes, walked out of the City of London Police headquarters with her head lowered in remorse and hopelessness. Sisigou was right. Because of her refusal to follow her superior's advice, Candace Miller is dead, and their only chance in arresting Mariah Dillard for murder is gone forever. It was time for her to face the harsh reality. Mariah Dillard, who committed the murder of Cornell Stokes and possibly Candace Miller, is free and there is nothing the authorities can do to bring her in.

As she walked through the streets of London, still contemplating over her guilt and sorrow, she soon heard a slow clap. Saber stops at her tracks and turns her head to her left. As she gazes at the alleyway beside her, she sees a blonde-haired man dressed in black clothing standing in the distance.

"Why the long face, Arturia Pendragon?" The man sneered.

Arturia widens her eyes. "Who are you? How do you know my name?" She asked.

"The name's Gilgamesh." The man winks an eye as he gave a mock salute. "And I've been watching you. I find you…interesting from all the other members of the police force." Arturia flinched as Gilgamesh stuffs his hands into his pockets. "I heard the police failed to bring another criminal in despite committing the worst crime of all."

"It's none of your concern." Arturia said as she turns her head away.

Gilgamesh snorted. "Aren't you sick and tired of this shtick? You arrest a criminal but they get away because everything must rely on evidence, evidence, and evidence? And even if you bring them to court, they would bribe the lawyers to set them free, give them a short sentence or spare their lives from execution? Fuck that shit, right?"

When Arturia remained silent for a few moments, Gilgamesh chuckled. "I know how you feel. You join the police force because you thought you are doing something for society, right? Wanting to change the Justice system or some shit like that? But no matter how hard you try, you don't change the system. The system changes you. I want to change the system too. But you can't do that when you are working for them."

Arturia turns back to Gilgamesh with a look of pained confusion as he slowly walks up to her. "That old hag of a politician, Mariah Dillard…you want to make her pay for humiliating you, right? I can help you with that. So what do say…you join me?" Gilgamesh smirks and extends his hand to her.

Arturia looks down at his hand, staring at it for a few moments as she thought long and hard about what Gilgamesh had told her. Eventually, she looks back up at him with a frown and she grabs his hand.

* * *

_**2 Years Later…** _

_**German Airspace** _

Shortly after being picked up from the former secret facility of the now defunct Matou Industries, everybody is now onboard a transport plane that is heading its way to London. In the middle of the plane, Kirei is given medical treatment as he lies on a bed with bandages wrapped around his chest. Sakura is being closely monitored by Rin, Shirou, Illya, Chulainn, Yukari and some of Kiritsugu's men. Meanwhile, at the back of the plane, Saber and Ricky are sitting beside each other on the passenger seats with Kiritsugu, Maiya and some of their top men standing in front of them. Ricky gazes at the metal floor, refusing to take a glance at Saber, who sat on her seat with cuffs around her wrists and ankles.

"Arturia Pendragon, for the last two years, you have deceived us. You lied to us that you were a former member of the British military and conceal your association with the notorious mercenary and terrorist known as Gilgamesh. And even though we share the same enemy, your true objective was to help Gilgamesh grab hold of Matou Industries' technology. Although I can pardon you for killing criminals, for we have the license to do so, I cannot forgive you for hiding the truth from us that you have been working for a terrorist organization. Zouken Matou may be dead, but you have handed all over his technology and weaponry to a new enemy!" Kiritsugu reprimanded.

"And if what you said is true about his mission to invade London, we are now dealing with a threat that is as big as Matou Industries." Maiya added.

"I'm sorry for what I did, and you can all express your hatred towards me as much as you want." Saber said. "But I am also telling the truth when I said I'm willing to help you all fight against Gilgamesh and stop him from destroying London. You have no idea how capable of a threat he truly is. That is why you are going to require my assistance."

"That won't be necessary." Kiritsugu said coldly.

"What?!" Saber yelled in shock.

"You are now officially our enemy, Arturia. And we don't cooperate with people like you." Kiritsugu explained.

"That's bullshit! I know Gilgamesh more than any of you and-"

"What are the chances of you turning your back against us?" Maiya sternly interrupts Saber. "For all we know, you still have some connection to Gilgamesh and may jeopardize our mission if we allow your participation!"

Saber fell silent for a few moments. She got up from her seat, causing Kiritsugu's men to place their hands on their pistols underneath their suits. "My association with Gilgamesh is no longer relevant. And even though it was part of my agenda back then, up until now, I've never disobeyed a single order from you and Maiya. Especially after I've cut ties with him, my loyalty towards the both of you remains unimpaired. You guys are right. For the last two years, I've been hiding the truth from everyone around me. But as time goes on, I've realized how important all of you truly are to me. The people I'm assigned with, especially Yukari, have helped put me back in the right path." She frowned at Kiritsugu and Maiya pleadingly. "I'm done with my past self. So please give me the chance to atone for my mistakes."

"I'm with her." Everyone turn their heads to see Illya walking her way over to them.

"Illya?" Saber uttered. Maiya and Kiritsugu's men move out of the way to allow Illya to walk over to Saber and stand beside her.

"Are you sure you are willing to put your trust in her?" Kiritsugu asked Illya sternly.

"Yes." Illya gave him a solemn nod. "Like her, I have made a terrible mistake too. I know how it feels like having to carry a heavy amount of guilt and desperately finding a way to make up for what you've done. That is why I'm on the same page as her." She smiled at her adoptive father as she raised a hand. "I know. This may be the craziest decision I've ever made. But Gilgamesh seems to be an unpredictable person. If we don't bring her with us, what other way do we have to stop him?"

Ricky grits his teeth and clenches his fists. He gets up from his seat and turns to Saber. "I still haven't forgiven you for deceiving me all this time. But if I wish to save my home, I will work alongside with you, whether I like it or not." Ricky said with his eyes narrowed.

Saber's eyes softened as she stares at Ricky. "Thank you." She said softly.

"No. Don't thank me yet." Ricky replied flatly. Saber lowers her head and sighs inwardly.

"If you two are going with her, then you better get ready for your next mission." Kiritsugu reminded. Maiya cautiously walks over to Saber and removes the cuffs around her wrists and ankles. Maiya backs away and Kiritsugu's men are preparing to fire at Saber if she does anything to retaliate, but she didn't. After a few seconds have passed, Kiritsugu signals his men to stand down. "Maiya and I will inform the others about this."

After Kiritsugu, Maiya and their men walk away, Saber turned to Illya. "Thank you Illya. I swear I'll find a way to make it up to all of you." She vowed.

"No problem." Illya smiled at Saber with her hands behind her back. "Besides, you will always be the same person who accepted me as part of your family." Saber widens her eyes as a memory of her past came flooding into her mind.

* * *

_**1 Year Ago…** _

_**Unknown Location** _

After shaking her hand, Shirou closes his eyelids and gave a solemn bow to Saber. "Saber…I promise you that with every ounce of willpower I have, I will protect you and everyone in the battlefield."

"I'm glad to hear that." Saber smiled warmly at him. As Shirou stood up, Kiritsugu came out of his office and they turned to him.

"If you two are done introducing yourselves, there's another person I want you to meet." Kiritsugu said.

* * *

Saber and Shirou followed Kiritsugu down the stairs and entered the floor below his office. They walk down the hallway until they reach a metal door which Maiya is standing next to.

"Maiya, how is she doing?" Kiritsugu asked his assistant softly.

"She's calm for now." Maiya responded.

Kiritsugu nods his head and turns to Saber and Shirou. "Arturia, Shirou, I want you two to meet a girl whom I've recently adopted." He said to them.

Shirou widens his eyes in surprise. "I have a sister?" He realized aloud.

"Yes." Kiritsugu nods his head again. "And I want you and your new leader to take good care of her from now on."

"I don't recall babysitting as part of my job, sir." Saber said in annoyance as she folds her arms.

"You won't be babysitting her. She will be joining you as your teammate." Kiritsugu explained to her. "Her name is Illyasviel von Einzbern. During a mission in Germany, Maiya and I learnt about a girl who is said to have created a cure for a rare disease. She is a fast learner and possesses a high level of IQ that allows her to skip a grade in school. But sadly, a tragedy happened to her mother and only parent. She proceeded to kill her mother's murderer and she could have been thrown into life imprisonment for what she did. Instead, the authorities took her to an asylum after they conclude that she was mentally unstable when she committed the murder at the time. But I chose to go to the asylum and adopt her instead. Even though she can still be unpredictable at times, I cannot let her intelligence go to waste."

"Basically, you want me to have an insane but intelligent girl in my team." Saber said.

"Precisely. I hope not only are you able to contain her, but she will provide a lot of assistance for you." Kiritsugu said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "And Shirou, you should introduce yourself to her. She is your new sister after all."

"I'll try." Shirou replied to his father, sounding a little nervous.

"Shall we go in?" Saber asked her new teammate.

"Sure." Shirou said to her as he nodded. Kiritsugu steps aside and Maiya quietly opens the door for the two. They enter and see Illya quietly sitting in the center of the room with her arms placed on her desk and her head lowered.

"Illyasviel?" Saber asked as she and Shirou could hear Maiya closing the door behind them. When Illya lifts her head up, Saber and Shirou notice that her eyes are red, knowing she was in a state of anguish.

"W-where's K-Kiritsugu?" Illya managed to choke out.

"He sent us here. He wanted us to meet you." Shirou responded.

Illya sniffs as she stares blankly at them. Saber slowly walks up to her, causing Illya to back away in fear. But Saber quickly holds up her hands, gesturing her to calm down.

"It's okay. I'm unarmed. See?" Saber said.

"So am I." Shirou added, holding up his hands as well. Illya sighs as Saber continues walking over. She grabs a chair and sat in front of her.

"Illyasviel, I'm sorry to hear what happened to your mother. I know how it feels to lose someone you know." Saber said soothingly to her.

"Ma'am," Illya paused for a moment to sniff again. "Do you think I'm a monster? I was partially responsible for my mother's death. I killed her murderer and I was admitted to a mental ward. Do I not deserve to be alive?"

Saber smiled and shakes her head. "I don't believe that. You don't deserve to continue living when you have outlived your usefulness and purpose in this world."

"What is your purpose in this world?" Illya inquired.

"My purpose?" Saber replied flatly as she narrows her eyes. "To do whatever it takes to wipe out every criminal in this world. And I want you to help me in my mission."

"Y-you want to accept me?" Illya asked incredulously.

"That's right." Saber nods her head. "With your skills and intelligence, I'm sure you will provide a lot of help to our cause. Will you come with us?"

Illya frowned and curls her fingers into fists. She pondered for a moment before giving Saber a solemn nod. "I will join you."

Saber smiled warmly at her and she extends her hand. "Welcome to the team…Berserker."

"Berserker?" Illya uttered. Then, a wide smile appears on her face. "I like that."

After Illya shakes Saber's hand, she turns to Shirou who smiled at her. "Nice to have you in our team, Illyasviel. My name is Shirou Emiya."

"Emiya?" Illya said puzzled. "Are you related to-"

"Kiritsugu? The man who adopted you? Yes." Shirou replied.

"Kiritsugu is my father. Then that means…" A huge smile plasters itself across Illya's face again when she made the realization. She shouted with joy as she gets up from her chair and throws herself over to Shirou, "You're my brother!" As she wraps her arms around the young man, Illya giggled as she snuggled happily into her embrace with her new big brother.

Shirou, who is completely taken off guard by her response, just stared blankly at her for a few moments before he lets out a laugh. With a warm smile on his face, he hugs her back and ruffles her hair. "That's right. I'm your new brother. And we're going to take good care of you from now on."

Saber sighs heavily as she watches the display and said softly to herself, "What have I got myself into?"

* * *

"Yeah, we really form a connection back then, didn't we?" Saber murmured to Illya.

"I will fight alongside with you until the end, boss." Illya assured her leader.

"Danke dir." Saber replied. Illya giggled in response. Ricky remained silent the whole time as he watches them. Grumbling, he walks past the two women and head off someplace else where he can have a moment of silence for himself.

"Ricky…" Saber whispered sadly, feeling the pain of the loss of trust from her second-in-command. At this point, she can only hope there is still a very small chance of reconciliation between the two.

* * *

"How is his condition?" Rin asked the black suited woman who is keeping watch on Kirei as he lies on the bed.

"His breathing is stable, and thankfully the knife missed his heart by a few inches. He'll live." The woman replied.

"Thank you. I would like to have a moment with him." Rin said to her. The woman bows her head to her before walking away.

"I assume you are here to discuss my role in helping Zouken Matou acquire your father's business?" Kirei asked weakly as Rin glares coldly at him.

"My father's company assets were meant to help people. But you used them to create tools of destruction instead. I will never forgive you for aiding him." Rin said icily. "However, you do have my thanks, for helping us escape to safety back there."

Kirei closes his eyelids and gave Rin a solemn nod. "I'm sorry about what happen to your mother. And beware of Gilgamesh. Even though we only work together briefly, he is an extremely dangerous person. I hope you and your friends are ready, because taking him down won't be easy."

Rin gave a soft chuckle. "Has things ever been easy for us?"

"Rin." Chulainn said as he walks up to her. "It's Kiritsugu and Maiya. They are going to give a briefing for our next mission."

* * *

Saber, Ricky, Illya, Shirou, Rin, Chulainn, Yukari and Sakura sat together at the passenger seats. Unexpectedly, the atmosphere between them was tense because of the presence of a certain person. But nevertheless, they kept their cool as they listened to Kiritsugu's briefing for probably, their most important mission yet.

"Everyone, within an hour and five minutes, we will reach London." Kiritsugu said. "Our target is Gilgamesh, a notorious mercenary-for-hire who had killed several people across the world. But just recently, after the death of Zouken Matou, he had acquired all of Matou Industries' technology and weaponry, and according to Artruia Pendragon; he is planning to invade London."

"Now, we will have Arturia Pendragon explain to us how he is going to carry out his plans." Maiya said. Saber got up from her seat, walks over to Kiritsugu and Maiya and turn around to face her team. Saber noticed that Ricky and Rin narrow their eyes at her while Shirou, Illya, Chulainn, Yukari and Sakura stared in silence and confusion.

Not wishing to get distracted, Saber proceeds to explain to her team, "Gilgamesh will start the invasion by capturing the Isle of Dogs. He will then launch a Grail missile onto the area and its contents will spread throughout. The entire Canary Wharf will be contaminated within seconds, and so will all of London within hours. Once we get down there, I want all possible entries into the Isle of Dogs, roads, railways, tunnels to all be obstructed. Gilgamesh and his men will surely show up at those areas to prevent anyone from leaving. So be prepared to sortie when we see them."

"We'll contact the City of London police to help us out." Maiya added.

"You better be right about this." Shirou said to Saber sternly.

"I am." Saber replied to him. "This mission cannot happen without me after all. I know all of you are still having trouble in trusting me. But I need you all to keep fighting with me. Can you do that?"

For a few moments, everyone remained silent. But Rin shot it down when she got up from her seat and walks up to Saber.

"I will help you…only on one condition. No more hiding secrets from us from here on out. Got it?" Rin said bitterly.

"Yes. I promise." Saber said firmly. Without warning, Rin grits her teeth and throws a swift punch across Saber's face.

"Hey!" Chulainn yelled as he, Illya and Shirou quickly got up, run over and restrain Rin by grabbing her shoulder and arms.

"That's for hiding one from me." Rin said flatly to her. Saber slides her hand across the cheek which Rin had punched. She nods her head before getting up and looking back at her teammate.

"You have every right to be angry, Rin." Saber said to her. As Chulainn, Illya and Shirou release her, Rin extends her hand to Saber. She stares at it for a moment before grabbing it and shook. "Thank you for lending me your help." Rin nods her head as she removes her hand. Saber turns to Chulainn and Shirou and inquired, "Chulainn? Shirou? Will you come along with me?"

"Tch." Chulainn snorted. "Why let the others have all the fun without me? Of course I'll take part in this mission." Saber chuckled at his response.

"Despite what you did, I still made a promise to you a year ago that I will protect you in the battlefield." Shirou said and he gave Saber a solemn bow. "I'll remain obligated to what I said."

"Thank you, Shirou." Saber bows back to him.

"I'll come too." Sakura said as she walks over to them. "As a former asset for Matou Industries, I feel partially responsible that the Grail missiles are now going to use for the destruction of a major city. I'll take part in this mission to help you all prevent it."

"Thank you, Sakura. Welcome to the team." Saber expressed her gratitude. Sakura turns to Rin and the sisters smile at each other and nod their heads.

"Yukari, you can choose not to come with us. This mission is going to be at an industrial scale, far more dangerous than any other you have participated before. It's not safe for you." Saber said to Yukari.

Yukari narrows her eyes and shakes her head. "No, I'm coming with you." She replied.

"Yukari." Ricky uttered in concern. Yukari stood up from her seat and places her hand on her chest.

"I loved my hometown of Itomori. Even now, I still hold many wonderful nostalgic memories of it inside me." Yukari closes her eyelids as she lowers her head. "But four years ago, everything that I cherish and hold dear about it is gone within just a blink of an eye." Yukari looked back at Saber with a determined frown. "I will not let the same thing happen to London."

Saber smirked at Yukari. "Thank you Yukari. You never ceased to amaze me." She said.

"We've come this far as a team, haven't we?" Yukari smiled at her. "So I'm not backing out anymore."

Finally, everyone turn to Ricky who has yet to give Saber an answer. Ricky looked at his teammates and Sakura for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. He gets up from his seat and folds his arms.

"Just one thing. Gilgamesh's ass is mine." Ricky said flatly. Everyone smiled and chuckled at him.

"And you can keep it." Chulainn replied with a smirk. Ricky holds up a middle finger to him.

"Good to have you on board, Ricky." Saber said, smiling weakly at him.

Yukari walks over to Ricky and extends her hand to him. Ricky grins at her before grabbing and holding onto her hand. Yukari escorts him over to the others before everyone turn to Kiritsugu and Maiya.

"There's no turning back now." Kiritsugu warned all of them.

"We're ready to join the fight." Saber said solemnly as she and her teammates nod their heads.

Kiritsugu silently stared at them for a moment before raising a finger. "One hour. Get ready."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for the final battle, everyone. Happy Halloween!


	27. London, Part 1

_**London, England, United Kingdom** _

A young blue-eyed woman with blonde hair, tied to a messy ponytail and dressed in a black and white police uniform, hastily walks out from a Starbucks store while carrying two cups of hot coffee. She goes over to the police car, parked beside the pavement and carefully opens the door.

"Here you go, sir. One cup of espresso, like you asked." The woman said as she sat down and hands one of cups over to Kairi Sisigou.

"Thank you, Mordred." Kairi said as he takes it. The two take a sip of their coffee before placing them at the sides.

"Let's go." Mordred grabs the steering wheel, steps on the gas pedal and drives the car down the road.

Kairi growled as he made a grimace. "What's wrong, sir?" Mordred asked with her eyes fixated on the road.

"Is it just me or has the quality of their coffee gone bad?" Kairi asked.

"I have to agree with you on that. My latte doesn't taste good either." Mordred replied. "But hey, still isn't as bad as the coleslaw they served at the canteen." After the two laughed, there was a moment of silence within the police car.

"Mordred, do you miss her?" Kairi questioned.

"Sergeant Pendragon, sir?" Mordred asked.

"Yes." Kairi nods his head.

Mordred frowns and lets out a heavy sigh. "Sometimes."

"I see." Kairi said grimly, staring blankly through the front window of their vehicle.

It has been two years since Arturia Pendragon left the City of London Police. After Mariah Dillard freely walked out of the station, Arturia did not show up for work for two days. Both Kairi and Mordred were worried about her absence, thinking that her failure in bringing Dillard in had taken a heavy toll on her. They tried contacting her, hoping to know what happened and try to comfort her not to let the incident get into her head. But one night, they were surprised to learn that Mariah Dillard was found dead and murdered inside her home. And by watching footage recorded by the victim's home cameras, they were shocked and horrified to discover that Arturia was her killer. Since then, they tried to find any trace of where Arturia had ran off to, hoping to find her and bring her in for what she had done. But it proved hopeless. Arturia had completely disappeared from the lives of Mordred and Kairi.

Despite now being a wanted criminal by the City of London Police, Kairi still felt that her disappearance is like a part of his life is gone. Every now and then, she would still come into his mind, making him linger on how and what he could have done to help her. Mordred on the other hand felt utterly betrayed. The officer she once showed respect and admiration for had transformed into a cold-blooded killer. Mordred hated herself for ever being associated with her and since then, she tried her hardest to forget about Arturia. She tried to move on with her life and did so by focusing more time on her work, which eventually led her to being promoted to the same rank Arturia was before. But no matter how much she tried, Arturia would still come to her mind every now and then, making her feel more frustrated with herself.

Soon, their thoughts were interrupted when the police operator spoke up from their car radio, "Inspector Sisigou! Sergeant Mordred! Are you there?"

Kairi grabs the radio and replied, "Yes, this is Inspector Kairi Sisigou. What seems to be the problem?"

"We were told that there is a suspicious vehicle, a white van numbered 'DW64 FSN', heading its way to Blackwall Tunnel. We have already barricaded the south end of the tunnel at North Greenwich. Head through the Isle of Dogs to barricade the north end."

"Understood!" Kairi said before putting down the radio.

"Let's go!" Mordred cried. After activating the sirens, she pushes down the lever and lowers her foot on the gas pedal, speeding through the streets of London as they make their way to their destination.

* * *

As Ricky and Saber sped through the streets of the Canary Wharf while pursuing the white van in front of them in the distance, Maiya spoke to them through their earpieces,  _"Arturia, Ricky, a police unit is on its way to your target's location. Rin and Sakura are also now pursuing their own target towards Upper Bank Street."_

"Understood, Maiya." Ricky replied while keeping his hand on the steering wheel and his vision fixated on the van. Once in a while, he turns the car to the side to avoid collision with any civilian vehicles in front of them.

" _Pursue but do not engage." Maiya added._

"Copy that." Saber replied before she and Ricky remove their fingers from their earpieces. "Punch it, and stay on them!" She said to his partner. Ricky nods his head as he places his other hand back on the steering wheel and lowers his foot on the gas pedal. As they stay in pursuit on the van, Saber places her finger on her earpiece again. "Archer, Lancer, how are you two doing?"

" _Greenwich Foot Tunnel is clear." Chulainn replied. "No sign of…wait."_

" _Saber! We spot a black SUV approaching us!" Shirou shouted in alarm._

"Then open fire!" Saber commanded. But what she could hear afterwards shocked her.

" _Shit! Is that a rocket?!" She hears Chulainn yell, followed by the screams of several people in the background._

" _Fall back!" Shirou shouted one last time before Saber could hear a rocket being launched and the communications are cut off._

"ARCHER! LANCER!" Saber cried in horror.

"What happened?!" Ricky asked in panic as he continues pursuing the speeding van in front of them.

Saber cursed under her breath and slams her fist on the dashboard. Despite the fact that something terrible had happened to Shirou and Chulainn, unfortunately all she can do now is focus on her own mission and hope that her teammates are okay. Saber lifts her head up and turns to Ricky.

"Just focus on the van. We'll worry about them later." Saber said. Ricky sighs heavily and continues chasing the van while Saber places her finger on her earpiece.

" _Maiya, something happened at the south end of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel." Saber reported._

" _We know. We are sending backup now. Focus on your own mission right now." Maiya responded._

Saber lowers her hand and noticed that they are approaching the entrance of the Blackwall Tunnel. She could see the van breaking through the toll gate, much to surprise of the security guards, and entering through the tunnel.

"Come on Ricky!" Saber shouted at her partner. "Step on-"

_**BANG!** _

Unfortunately, Saber and Ricky failed to notice the black SUV ramming against the left side of their car.

"ARGH!" Ricky cried as their car skid to the side and collided against a pickup truck. The collision caused Ricky to give a hard left turn on the steering wheel, causing the car to fall over to the side.

"HANG ON!" Saber shouted as their car roll over the road a few times. When the rolling came to a stop, the car ended up lying upside down on its roof and pieces of glass shatter all over the ceiling and road.

When Saber and Ricky reopen their eyelids, they find themselves hanging upside down with only their safety belts keeping them on their seats. They turn to each other and Ricky asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Saber replied softly. The two look up and hurriedly remove their seat belts. After finding themselves landing on the ceiling on their backs, Ricky and Saber turn to the doors at their sides and opens them. They crawl their way out of the car and see several screaming civilians abandoning their vehicles and running away from the tunnel. When a gunshot was made, the civilians scream louder.

Ricky and Saber turn and see five mercenaries, dressed in brown vests and dark tan uniforms and armed with rifles, coming out from the SUV that collided against them earlier. One of them killed the security guards while the other four fire at Ricky and Saber. The two quickly kneel down and hide behind their car doors. The two draw out their guns and turn to each other.

"Fire back. Watch out for civilians." Saber ordered her partner. Ricky nodded in response before standing up from their cover. They fire their guns and manage to take down one of them. Three of the remaining mercenaries hide behind their SUV while one go over to a nearby civilian car.

Ricky and Saber took a few steps forward before one of the mercenaries stood up from behind their SUV and threw a grenade.

"Grenade!" Saber shouted. She and Ricky roll out of the way before the grenade lands and explode. Ricky rolls over to the civilian car and the mercenary hiding behind it jumps up and lands on top of the front of the car.

Ricky looks up and sees the mercenary draws out his combat knife. The mercenary jumps down and swings his knife at Ricky. Ricky moves out of the way in time and the mercenary stabs his knife on the road. He quickly gets up and swings his knife vertically at Ricky who backs away. The mercenary swings his knife again, this time diagonally. Ricky swiftly grabs his arm with his free hand, but the mercenary throws his other fist and punches him in the abdomen.

As Ricky bends over and releases his arm, the mercenary is about to bring his knife down on him, but a bullet quickly fire through his hand, causing him to yell in pain and drop his knife. Ricky turns his head and sees Saber running over to them while raising one of her Glocks. As Saber grabs the back of the mercenary's head and slams him on the front of the car, Ricky sees the three mercenaries coming out from behind their SUV.

Ricky quickly runs over beside Saber and fires his revolver at them. As the mercenaries fire their rifles at them, Saber quickly pulls the mercenary up and turns him to the side. The mercenary yell in pain as the bullets shot through his vest and body. Ricky and Saber fire their guns back, but they kept missing.

Suddenly, two of the mercenaries went down after getting in the back. But Ricky and Saber both know the shots weren't coming from them. The two see a policewoman and an inspector in the distance, walking over while firing their pistols at the remaining mercenary and their SUV. Saber widens her eyes as she recognizes them.

"Kairi." Saber murmured. Kairi fires a shot at the mercenary's hand, causing him to drop his rifle. Mordred then fires at his shoulder and Kairi runs over to the mercenary and knocks him out by punching him across his face. Saber tosses the now dead mercenary in front of her aside and she and Ricky walk over to the two.

"I never thought I would ever see you again." Kairi said to Saber.

"Sisigou." Saber uttered.

Ricky widens his eyes and turns to her. "That's Kairi Sisigou whom you told me about?" He asked.

Mordred snarls as she holds up her gun at Saber. "Arturia Pendragon! You are under arrest for the murder of Mariah Dillard!"

Saber turns to the policewoman and sighed inwardly. "Mordred, it's been a while since I saw you too." She said to her morosely.

"Silence! You don't have the right to talk to me anymore after what you did two years ago! I admired you, Arturia! And yet, you betrayed my trust!" Mordred yelled furiously.

"Huh. She betrayed you too? Welcome to the club." Ricky said casually to Mordred.

"Silence!" Mordred barked as she points her pistol at Ricky. "You must be her accomplice, right?"

"Currently no." Ricky shrugged. "But also yes."

"Look! There is no time for any of this!" Saber cried. "Our real priority now is going after that van in the tunnel!"

"What? How do you know about it?" Kairi asked.

"We made the report, and we require the police's assistance in this." Saber explained to Kairi before turning back to Mordred. "Mordred, you have every right to distrust me. I'm sorry for what I did in the past. But right now, we need to work together. If we don't, there is going to be chaos."

Mordred continued pointing her pistol at Saber for a moment before shifting her eyes to Kairi, who gestures her to lower her weapon. Mordred growls as she looks back at Saber and she reluctantly puts away her pistol.

"We'll deal with you later, Arturia." Kairi said to his former ally solemnly.

"I know, and thank you." Saber said. "Let's go!"

The four turn to the entrance of tunnel and run their way over. Ricky places his finger on his earpiece and spoke, "Maiya, our vehicle is down. We're continuing our journey on foot."

" _Affirmative. But please hurry." Maiya said before signing off._

The four entered the tunnel and see a few damaged cars and a double decker bus left abandoned at the sides of the road. Undoubtedly, the van had relentlessly smashed its way through the cars and still currently making its way to the end of the tunnel.

"The tunnel is empty." Saber noticed.

"The civilians were told to leave as soon as a few units of ours arrived at the other end of the tunnel." Kairi said to her.

"Look out!" Mordred shouted as the group is greeted by six mercenaries who were hiding inside the abandoned double decker bus. One of mercenaries stayed inside the bus, armed with a sniper rifle while the other five got out and fire at the four with their regular rifles. Saber, Ricky, Kairi and Mordred quickly run over to an abandoned car beside them and hide behind the back of the vehicle.

"How the hell do these guys get inside?" Mordred asked, clinging onto the grip of her pistol.

"Gilgamesh's men are mostly made up of ex-soldiers from all over the world. They probably got into the tunnel through the passageways." Saber answered as she holds up her Glocks.

"How resourceful are these people?" Kairi muttered. He, Ricky and Mordred watch Saber got up from their hiding spot. She whirled about and fires her Glocks at the mercenaries. She successfully shot the bullets through the foreheads of three of them. She was about to shoot down the fourth and fifth mercenaries, but Kairi quickly gets up and fires a bullet each at their stomachs, causing them to yell and slump onto the floor in pain. Saber and Kairi quickly duck down for cover when the last remaining mercenary fires a shot with his sniper rifle from the bus.

"What happen to you, Arturia? You used to not kill people." Kairi chided Saber.

"I've changed since. But it's good to know that you haven't." Saber replied.

Mordred growls at Saber as she readies her pistol. She rolls over on the road and fires a bullet at the mercenary. The mercenary yells as the bullet hits his hand, causing him to drop his sniper rifle. Mordred holds up her pistol and fires again. This time, the bullet shot through the mercenary's shoulder, causing him to yell again as he falls onto the metal floor of the bus.

"Good work, sergeant." Kairi complimented his partner.

"I've changed as well while you were gone." Mordred said coldly to Saber as she lowers her pistol.

Saber stared at Mordred for a moment, knowing how far her former admirer had come. She still remembered the days when she, Kairi and Mordred were working together in the police force. Mordred was still a corporal back then and she greatly admired and respected her as both her superior and friend. But obviously, after hearing the news that the person she once devoted her entire life to turned out to be a murderer, all her love and admiration for her had been alienated. Saber couldn't help but feel a huge sense of guilt and regret. Mordred truly cared for her, but through her affiliation with Gilgamesh, she had not only hurt herself, but also the people who had done nothing wrong.

"Let's keep going." Saber said bluntly as she looks back at the front. The four continue running down the tunnel. There were no longer any vehicles in the area as they kept going deeper into the tunnel. Ricky soon picked up another signal and this time, it came from Illya.

" _Assassin, Saber, can you hear me?!" He could hear Illya say._

"We hear you. What's wrong?" Ricky asked as he and Saber notice the anxiety in Illya's voice.

" _Caster and I are falling back! Gilgamesh's men have overrun Trafalgar Way and Baffin Way. The police did help us but they are taking heavy losses."_

"Fuck me. Get yourself and Caster to a safe area." Ricky ordered Illya.

" _Verstanden!" Illya replied before signing off._

After Ricky lowers his hand, he, Saber, Kairi and Mordred could hear sounds coming from the side of the tunnel.

"What is that?" Saber inquired. Her answer came when a metal door at the side of the tunnel burst open. Around ten flying drones, armed with small turrets, come flying through the doorway like a swarm of bees. They place themselves in front of the four and began firing. The four whirled about and run away from the lines of fire.

"What are these things?!" Kairi yelled.

"These are special drones, created by Miriam Young, one of Gilgamesh's top mercenaries." Saber answered.

When Mordred placed herself against the wall, she turns back to the drones and fires her pistol. Her bullets managed to land on two of them, but they are deflected by their armour. The drones casually turn as if they are unharmed and fire their turrets at her. Mordred quickly rolls out of the way.

"They're heavily armoured!" Mordred cried as she gets back up and fires her gun at the drones again.

While the drones are distracted with Mordred, Ricky turns around and fires a shot at them. The bullet lands on one of them, but again, it got deflected by its armour. The drones turn their attention to Ricky and fire their turrets at him, who runs out of the way.

When Saber and Kairi place themselves at the other side of the tunnel, the latter was about to open fire. But Saber quickly places her hand on his pistol.

"No! If we fire, we get their attention. They are heavily armoured so there's no point wasting our ammo. We had to take out its operator instead." Saber explained to Kairi.

"Find its roots and take it out." Kairi nods his head in agreement. "But where could the operator be hiding?"

Saber looks back at the open door at the side of the tunnel where the drones originally came from. She narrows her eyes and said to Kairi, "Give me some cover!"

As Saber ran off, the drones turn around and spot her. They are about to open fire when suddenly, Kairi fires his pistol at them. The drones turn to Kairi.

"Come and get me!" Kairi shouted as he kept shooting. The drones began firing their turrets at Kairi, who quickly run away from the lines of fire. Ricky and Mordred also fire their guns at the drones, trying to get their attention as well.

While the drones are distracted with her allies, Saber climbs up the wall via a metal ladder and looks through the open doorway. Sure enough, she sees a mercenary crouching down while controlling a flat touchscreen device. The mercenary looks up and sees Saber approaching him. He tosses the device away as he got up. As Saber raises her Glock, he quickly throws a punch at her face, causing her to drop her weapon.

Saber looks back at the mercenary who is about to throw another punch at her with his right fist. But Saber successfully deflects his fist. She lifts her right knee up, kicking him in the gut. As the mercenary backs away, Saber proceeds to deliver a few hard punches across his face before throwing a final punch that collided against his nose.

The mercenary collapses onto the floor with a bleeding nose and he looks up to see Saber standing above him, aiming her other Glock at his face. Saber notices the mercenary looking back at her with a look of fear and terror. She growls as she stared at the helpless mercenary for a moment before she lowers her Glock and knocks him out by stomping her foot onto his face. She turns to the device laid on the ground and fires a shot at it.

Ricky, Mordred and Kairi continue firing at the drones until they watch them lower their turrets and fall onto the road, completely disabled. They lift their heads up and turn to the side of the tunnel to see Saber coming out from the doorway with both Glocks in her hands.

"Come on! Let's move!" Saber shouted at them. After she climbed down, the four continue running down the tunnel until she received a signal.

" _Saber, the police had the vehicle pin down. Get over there now!" Maiya yelled._

"We see the vehicle! We're approaching it now!" Saber replied as she and the others spotted the van in the distance. The vehicle had stopped and two mercenaries are kneeling on the road with hands placed on the back of their heads. In front of the van were several police cars parked and blocking the road. The policemen have completely surrounded the van, with four of them standing behind the mercenaries while aiming their guns at them and several more standing next to their police cars.

Two policemen turn around and see Saber, Ricky, Mordred and Kairi running over to them.

"Inspector Sisigou!" One of them said as they gave a salute to Kairi.

"At ease." Kairi said to him. The other policeman was about to stop Ricky and Saber, but Kairi quickly told him, "These two are our allies. They're with us."

"For now." Mordred muttered. The four cautiously head over to the back of the van.

"Be careful." Saber said to Kairi and Mordred. Mordred pulls the handle, but the door wouldn't open.

"Take this." Ricky said to Mordred as he hands her a welding torch. Mordred silently snatches the torch from his hand and turns back to the doors.

But before she could turn on the torch, the doors suddenly burst open, causing Mordred and Kairi to fall onto the road on their backs and Ricky and Saber to step away. To their surprise and horror, several drones came flying out of the van and over to the walls of the tunnel.

"No, no, no! These are explosive drones! Take them out!" Saber shouted. She, Ricky, Mordred and Kairi quickly draw out their guns and fire at the drones as they flew past them. But their attempts were futile. They and the policemen helplessly watch the drones attach themselves onto the walls.

"GET BACK!" Saber shouted again, but only a second later, one by one, the drones self-destruct, creating a line of explosions across the tunnel.

"Everyone, get out!" Kairi yelled at the policemen who are standing behind the mercenaries. Unbeknownst to them, the mercenaries take off their vests, revealing a few grenades attached onto their bodies.

"For a better future!" The mercenaries cried in unison as they remove the pins. The grenades exploded, killing themselves and sending the policemen who were keeping guard of them flying through the air.

"No!" Kairi cried in horror.

As the area violently trembled and debris began falling down from the ceiling, the remaining policemen yelled and panicked as they desperately tried to run away to safety. One unfortunate group of policemen were crushed under by a large piece of debris.

Saber and Ricky help Kairi and Mordred get up from the road and make their way out of the tunnel. However, two large pieces of debris landed right in front of the four, causing all of them to fall onto the road. The four quickly got up into kneeling positions, wrap their arms around each other, lower their heads and gather themselves into a protective circle as the debris continue falling around them.

* * *

Everyone moan and slowly open their eyes when the smoke is cleared and the trembling had stopped.

"Is everything okay?" Saber asked in concern as they slowly get up.

"I'm good." Mordred replied.

"I'm fine too." Kairi responded.

"I've been through worse." Ricky said to her.

"You always have." Saber said, causing her second-in-command to chuckle.

The four look at their surroundings. The sight around them had brought them a sense of despair and hopelessness. The entire southern half of the Blackwall Tunnel had collapsed. Several members of the police have died in the line of duty as they are crushed under the fallen debris. Despite their best efforts in stopping Gilgamesh's men, they have failed to stop the bombings and now everyone in the Isle of Dogs is trapped from the outside world.

Kairi narrows his eyes and places his hands firmly on the shoulders of Saber and Mordred.

"We can express our sorrows later. Right now, we have to focus on getting out of here." Kairi said solemnly to them.

Saber and Mordred grimly look at each other for a moment before they turn to Kairi and nod their heads.

" _Saber, this is Lancer! Come in!"_

Saber and Ricky widen their eyes in surprise. They quickly place their fingers on their earpieces and Ricky said anxiously, "Lancer! How are you and Archer?!"

" _We're fine. We both got away safely." Chulainn said._

The two sigh in relief. "Thank goodness. But I assume that means the Greenwich Foot Tunnel had been overrun?" Ricky asked.

" _Unfortunately yes." Shirou replied._

"God dammit." Saber murmured.

" _Saber, Assassin, this is Rider, do you read me?" Rin spoke up, asking in concern._

"Rider! Good to hear from you. How are things for you and Sakura?" Saber inquired.

" _I'm sorry Saber. Sakura and I tried our best. But they overwhelmed us and the police. The Upper Bank Street is lost." Rin said sadly._

" _Saber, Assassin, can you hear us?" Illya asked._

"Berserker? How are you and Caster?" Ricky asked.

" _We're fine. We are in our safe area now." Yukari answered._

" _What she said." Illya added._

"Everyone, until further notice, just stay where you are and hide yourselves from Gilgamesh's men. Assassin and I will contact you all again later." Saber commanded.

" _Affirmative!" Shirou, Chulainn, Rin, Illya and Yukari all said in unison._

"We've failed." Saber said grimly as she and Ricky lower their hands. "Gilgamesh and his men have captured the Isle of Dogs."

"What are you talking about?" Mordred asked in a mixture of horror and confusion.

"Ricky and I will explain to you both later. But right now, let's get out of here. I wish I know where we can go next afterwards though." Saber said.

"I know somewhere we can go." Ricky said to her. "Does Meridian Place ring a bell?"

Saber widens her eyes as she came to a realization. "Of course!" She places her finger on her earpiece again. "Everyone, forget what I said earlier. I want you all to head over Block 523C Meridian Place. I repeat, Block 523C Meridian Place. Assassin and I will see you all there."

" _Okay, got it." Chulainn responded._

" _We'll see you there then." Rin added._

" _Assassin, boss, watch yourselves as well." Yukari said._

"We will." Saber replied before lowering her hand again and turning to the others. "Let's get going and head over-"

"Ssshhh!" Kairi hushed her. "Do you hear that?"

Everyone fell silent and sure enough, they could barely hear footsteps and some chattering in the distance. Saber gasped and said softly to the others, "Gilgamesh's men. They must be looking for survivors."

"Then let's lay low and stay quiet." Kairi whispered. Ricky and Mordred nod their heads. The four turn and crouch down. They carefully walk past the debris and try their best to make as little sound as possible while they manoeuvre around them.

Suddenly, Saber hushed to the others when she spots two mercenaries walking through the tunnel in the distance. She gestures Ricky, Mordred and Kairi to hide behind the debris next to them. As they quietly hide behind them, they could hear Gilgamesh's mercenaries speaking to each other.

"Blackwall Tunnel had been secured, sir." One of the men spoke into their radio.

" _Good." Diarmuid said. "Kill any hostiles in sight."_

"Roger that." The mercenary replied before putting away his radio.

"So once we wipe out every policeman who is trapped here in the Isle of Dogs, we'll get out of here before Gilgamesh launches the missile?" The other mercenary asked.

"Aye. We just gotta do it before the military arrives. And if anyone tries coming in here by air, our rocket troopers will take them out from the skies."

"Heh. Who knew our boss is so strategic and resourceful? Before I joined him, I was constantly bullied by other soldiers in the army, and my superiors ain't do a thing about it. If only they can see me now, they would be shitting in their pants."

Saber briefly turns her head to see the two mercenaries slowly approaching them. She looks down and grabs a small rock nearby. She turns to Ricky, Mordred and Kairi, holds up the rock and gave them a nod. The three nod their heads back before Saber tosses the rock onto the road and it landed near the mercenaries.

"Huh?" One of the mercenaries said in confusion as they turn to the rock. "Who the heck move-ACK!"

The other mercenary turns his head and widens his eyes in shock as Ricky wraps his arm around his partner's neck. He tried to fire his rifle but Kairi runs over and punches him across his face. As the mercenary fell to the ground, Kairi quickly kneels above him and grabs his hair. He briefly lifts his head up before slamming it onto the road and knocking him out. Ricky continues tightening his grip around the mercenary's neck until he rolls his eyes back and fell unconscious. Ricky releases his arms and tosses him aside.

"Move." Kairi said to everyone. The four continue running down the tunnel while in their crouching positions.

"Are they serious when they said that this Gilgamesh is launching a god damn missile?" Mordred asked.

"Aye." Ricky said. "He is going to launch a missile onto the Canary Wharf. It will contaminate the entire area within minutes. And so will the rest of London within hours. Millions of people will die."

"Unbelievable." Kairi muttered.

"Look over there!" The four could hear a mercenary shouting in the distance.

"Fuck!" Saber yelled. They turn their heads and realize that they are beside the abandoned double decker bus which the mercenaries had been hiding inside before.

"Get to cover!" Mordred shouted. They quickly get inside the double decker bus just as seven mercenaries fire at them.

After Saber, Mordred and Kairi placed the three mercenaries who are still alive on the seats and put their handcuffs around their wrists and the handlebars at the side of the bus; they go over to the windows and fire their pistols at the seven men who are now attacking them. After one of the mercenaries is shot, two of them take out their metal shields from their backs and place them in front of them. The four other mercenaries hide behind them and fire their rifles at the bus.

Saber, Mordred and Kairi quickly hide under the windows for cover. Some of the bullets however fire through the forehead of one of the men who are sitting at the seats.

"Do they care that their men are in this bus too?!" Kairi asked in alarm as the three reload their guns.

"Gilgamesh doesn't tolerate failure." Saber said to him.

"What do we do now?" Mordred asked, holding up her pistol close to her chest.

"Hey!" The three turn to Ricky who is sitting in the driver's seat. "We're in a god damn bus, right?" He asked with a smirk.

Ricky turns back to the front and starts the engine. He places his hands on the steering wheel and reverses the bus towards the mercenaries.

"Holy shit!" One of the mercenaries yelled as they drop their shields and run out of the way.

Saber, Mordred and Kairi got up and fire at the backs of the two mercenaries who ran off to the right. The four who ran off to the left turn back to the bus after it past by them and fire their rifles at the left front and back wheels. This causes the bus to skid through the road.

"Fuck! Hold on!" Ricky shouted as the bus began to fall over to the side. Saber, Mordred and Kairi quickly grab onto the handlebar below the windows before the bus collapses onto the road on its side.

One of the mercenaries signals the other three to move towards the collapsed bus. The four hold up their rifles as they hastily walk over. When they are near the bus, they climb over it and look down. They fire their rifles at the glass windows, not caring that they have killed the remaining two mercenaries who are still cuffed to the seats. When they stop firing, they notice that Saber, Mordred and Kairi are nowhere to be found.

"Where are they?" One of the mercenaries asked.

His answer came when Ricky suddenly comes out through the driver seat window and fires his revolver at the back of his left thigh. As the mercenary fell and howls in pain, the other three whirled about and aim their rifles at Ricky.

Suddenly, Saber, Mordred and Kairi roll over and fire their guns at the three men standing above them. The three mercenaries yell as the bullets shot through their backs and they all fall down.

Ricky goes over to the nearest fallen mercenary and stomps on his face to knock him out. One of the mercenaries tried to hold up his rifle but Ricky quickly goes over to him and kicks his weapon out of his hand before kneeling down and punching him hard in the face.

Meanwhile, Kairi climbs out through the window and goes over to a mercenary who struggled to get up. He quickly lifts his leg up and stomps him on the back of his head.

The last mercenary draws out his knife and tried to stab Kairi's leg as he rolls over. But Ricky quickly stops him by grabbing his arm. He gave the arm a twist, causing the mercenary to yell as he drops his knife. Ricky grabs his hair and pulls him up.

"He's all yours." Ricky said to Kairi as he pushes the mercenary over to him. Kairi swings his right fist and delivers a powerful punch directly into the mercenary's face and sending him falling down like a pile of bricks. After all the mercenaries are taken out, Saber and Mordred climb out through the broken windows.

"Great idea hiding underneath the ceilings, sir." Mordred smiled at Kairi as she and Saber got up.

"Thanks. And you aren't bad either." Kairi said to Mordred before turning to Saber. "You too, Arturia."

"I guess all of us working together feel like old times, doesn't it?" Saber asked with a wan smile.

"It sure does." Kairi gave a solemn nod to her. Mordred grumbled under her breath as she turns her head away from Saber.

"Come on." Saber said. "We gotta keep-" Just as Kairi and Saber turn to the entrance of the tunnel, the former steps forward and pushes her out of the way. As Saber falls down on her back, a gunshot echoed through the tunnel.

_**BANG!** _

Ricky, Saber and Mordred froze in horror as they gaze at Kairi. A bullet had shot right through his left lung and a pool of blood slowly takes form on his clothes.

"Sisigou!" Saber screamed.

"NO!" Mordred shrieked. Suddenly, another bullet was fired and this time, it shot through the right side of Kairi's waist. As Kairi falls down, Ricky, Saber and Mordred quickly go over to the left side of the fallen bus. They jump down and hide behind the bus.

"Fuck!" Mordred slams her fist against the bus in panic. "This can't be happening! The inspector! He's hurt badly!"

Saber grabs Mordred's shoulder from behind and turns around her. As Mordred stares back at her with her eyes wide in terror, Saber firmly grabs her arms.

"Calm down!" Saber cried at her. "We'll get him out of here! We just need to take down that sniper as soon as possible!" She backs away from Mordred and turns to Ricky who is carefully poking his head out from behind the bus.

Ricky briefly spotted the sniper lying flat on the road at the centre of the tunnel's entrance before he spotted him and fires another shot. Ricky quickly turned and hid back behind the bus.

"He's at the center, in a lying position." Ricky reported to Saber. She nods her head and looks to the front. She sees the shields, which the mercenaries they fought earlier had discarded, lying flat on the road. She lies down on the road and crawls over to the shields. She lifts both of them up and turns her head back to Mordred and Ricky.

"Listen to me carefully. We only got one shot at this." Saber said to them.

The sniper steadily looks through scope of his rifle and patiently waits for his enemies to make their next move. He had already taken down one of them and he knew the other three are completely helpless. Sure they have guns but they are too far away to make a clear shot at him. And by the time they even had a chance to fire, he would already shoot them down with a single bullet thanks to his long-ranged rifle. No matter what, his enemies are trapped and the only thing they can embrace is death. The sniper wraps his finger around the trigger, ready to fire another bullet as soon as he spots his three helpless foes making their next movement.

But much to his surprise, Saber and Ricky climbs up onto the bus while holding the shields in front of them. The sniper fires a shot at Saber, but the bullet is deflected by her shield. He cursed under his breath as he quickly reloads his rifle.

Mordred climbs up onto the bus just as Ricky goes over to Kairi and places the shield in front of his injured ally.

"Stay behind him!" Saber ordered Mordred. She obliged and goes behind Ricky. As she kneels down, Mordred frowned in worry and panic as she sees Kairi breathing heavily while placing his hand over the wound on his left lung.

"Hang on, sir." Mordred said as she places her hands on the right side of her superior's waist, trying to stop the bleeding. "We're getting out of here."

Saber jumps down from the bus and rushes over to the sniper. The sniper aims at Saber's feet and fires a shot. But Saber quickly stops and places her shield down, protecting her feet from getting shot.

As the sniper desperately reloads his rifle again, Saber continues running over to him. When she sees the sniper finished reloading his rifle, Saber stops and places her shield down again. The sniper gazes at Saber, ready to fire his rifle when she inevitably makes any movement again. But while he was distracted, Ricky pokes his head out from his shield and fires his revolver at the sniper.

The sniper yelps as the bullet flew past above his shoulder. He turns to Ricky and fires a shot at him, but he quickly hides back behind his shield. Saber takes the opportunity to lift up her shield and run towards the sniper again.

"Shit!" The sniper cursed under his breath as he tries to reload his rifle again. As the sniper looks up however, Saber is now only a few meters away and she tosses the shield over to him. The shield slams right into his face, causing him to drop his rifle and roll over to the side. As Saber runs up to the sniper, he jumps up to his feet. He draws out his pistol as he turns around and fires a shot at Saber.

Saber barely dodges the bullet as she throws herself back, gets down and slides through the road. She draws out her Glocks and fires multiple shots at the sniper. The sniper yells as the bullets shot through his vest and body and when Saber reaches him, she sweeps his feet off from the ground with her legs. As the sniper falls onto the road, Saber whirled about as she gets up and fires her Glock at his forehead.

Saber lets out a sigh as she lowers her weapon and turns back to her allies on the bus. "The coast is clear!" She shouted to them.

Ricky tosses his shield aside and helps Mordred carry Kairi up. They carefully wrap Kairi's arms around their backs and slowly climb down from the bus. They hurriedly stagger their way to the entrance where Saber is waiting for them.

"Get into our vehicle!" Mordred said to Saber when they reach her.

The four hurriedly leave the tunnel, pass through the toll gate and several abandoned vehicles and make their way over to the police car. Saber opens the back door, allowing Mordred and Ricky to carefully place Kairi in the backseats. He gave a heavy groan as they set him down.

"Stay with me, sir! You have to hold on!" Mordred cried frantically as she clings onto Kairi's hand. By now, his shirt and jacket are almost entirely soaked with his own blood.

"Everything…cold…" Kairi murmured.

"We have to hurry!" Ricky cried as he gently places his hands on Mordred's shoulders and pulls her away. As Saber closes the back door, Ricky and Mordred quickly go over to the other side of the car. Saber gets inside the passenger seat while Ricky sat at the back and beside Kairi. Mordred gets into the driver seat and grabs the radio.

"All units! Calling all units! This is Sergeant Mordred! Can you read me?! I'm at the north end of Blackwall Tunnel! We have an officer down and need immediate extraction!" Mordred cried into her radio.

"Negative sergeant. The entire area of the Isle of Dogs is compromised. All access to the island is blocked and sending air transportation is futile." The operator responded.

"You don't understand! My partner is gravely injured! He needs medical attention right away!" Mordred protested.

"I'm sorry sergeant. We are ordered not to send any units to the Isle of Dogs right now. Get yourselves to a safe area at the meantime. Hold on until we are given our next order." The operator explained.

"Roger, ma'am." Mordred replied. When the line is cut off, Mordred tosses the radio aside in frustration. "God dammit!" She shrieked as she slams her fist on the steering wheel.

"Calm down, Mordred." Saber tried to reason with Mordred as she extends her hand out to her. But Mordred angrily slaps her hand away as she turned to her.

"Calm down?! Arturia, Inspector Sisigou is dying!" Mordred shouted.

"Mordred, listen to me!" Saber bellowed at her. Mordred draws a sharp intake of breath as she fell silent. "We have a safe house at Meridian Place. When we get there, we can attend to his wounds!"

"And we better not waste any more time with arguments!" Ricky yelled. The two women turn and see Ricky placing his hand onto Kairi's wound at the right side of his waist. Kairi himself is breathing heavily from the excruciating amount of pain raging through his body as he places his hand on the wound at his left lung.

"What's the exact address?" Mordred asked as she and Saber turn back to each other.

"Block 523C Meridian Place." Saber quickly answered. Mordred turns back to the front and starts the engine.

"Hang on, Sisigou. You're going to be okay." Saber said to him soothingly. But she felt both worry and fear for her former superior at the same time.

After turning the vehicle around, Mordred pulls down the lever and steps hard on the gas pedal. She prayed desperately as she sped the car down the now chaotic streets of the Isle of Dogs. "Let's hope we are not too late."


	28. London, Part 2

_**Perth, Western Australia** _

The brown-haired boy snuggled against his equally horrified mother as they stared at their television while sitting together on the couch.

" _We will give you the updates as they come in. But to recap, several bombings have just occurred around the Isle of Dogs in downtown London." The reporter announced._

* * *

_**Paris, France** _

While sitting at their tables, Medea and the other prisoners gaze in horror at what was displayed at the small digital TV hung at the top corner of the mess hall.

" _It was 9:15 am in London when the bombings occurred in an orchestrated manner at Greenwich Foot Tunnel, Upper Bank Street, Trafalgar Way, Baffin Way and Blackwall Tunnel."_

A look of concern furrowed Medea's brows as she pursed her lips shut and curls her fingers into fists. She is unable to speak as she sees the horrific images that are displayed on the television.

* * *

_**Moscow, Russia** _

Eva Mikhailova stared wordlessly at the flat screen television in the living room in front of her. She was preparing her own lunch in the kitchen when the news reports of the bombings came in.

" _Every access to the Isle of Dogs has been cut off by the terrorists. The exact number of casualties is still unknown but it is said that around a hundred police officers were killed or injured."_

Eva sighed heavily before removing her arms around the kitchen desk and turning around to the window in front of the stove. "Ricky…" She said softly as she looked at the sky. "Wherever you are, I hope you're safe."

* * *

_**Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan** _

Aizawa watches the television in front of her as she lies on her hospital bed, still recovering from her injuries.

" _Over 150 thousand people are reported to be trapped in the Isle of Dogs after the bombings happened. Police are unable to enter the area for the time being, but the military had just been contacted and are on their way to the scene. At the meantime, the British government had advised all civilians who are trapped there to stay in their homes and nearest safe areas until further notice."_

Aizawa briefly closes her eyes to give a moment of prayer for the trapped civilians. She turns her head and puts on her hand on the book placed on the drawer next to her bed. "Yukino-sensei…"

* * *

_**London, England, United Kingdom** _

" _To all citizens who are still inside the Isle of Dogs and the Canary Wharf, do not lose hope for help is on the way. For now, please stay inside your homes or the nearest safe area. And remember, stay strong and never lose faith even in our trying times."_

After listening to the announcement from the mayor of London, Ricky's mother lowers the volume of the radio placed at the side of the dining table.

"I guess for now, all we can do is sit around and pray that things will get better." She said as she turns to Sella and Leysritt who both stood beside her.

"We hope so too." Sella said as she and Leysritt bow their heads. The doorbell rang and the three turned to the door.

"Who could that be during a time like this?" Leysritt inquired, turning back to Sella and the mother.

"I don't know." Ricky's mother shook her head in worry.

"Stay there, we'll get the door." Sella said, gesturing the mother to stay in her seat. As the bell rang again, she and Leysritt cautiously go over to the door while inserting their hands into their pockets, preparing to draw out their pistols.

When they reach the door, the bell rings once again. Sella wraps her hand on the doorknob and turns to Leysritt. The two women nod their heads to each other before Sella finally opens the door.

To their relief, it was Ricky and Saber. And to their surprise and confusion, the two rush into the apartment while carrying the injured Kairi by his arms.

"Sella! Leysritt! Go get bandages and blood! We have a bleeding man here!" Saber barked at the two women as she and Ricky hurriedly carried Kairi over to the couch. Without any questions, Sella and Leysritt immediately obey and rush to the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Ricky's mother asked as she got up from her chair.

"Mom, don't mind letting my friends stay here for a while, do you?" Ricky asked as he and Saber laid Kairi on the couch.

His mother looks up to see Mordred, Chulainn, Shirou, Rin, Illya, Yukari and Sakura entering the apartment. She sighed and replied to her son, "Of course."

While Yukari closes and locks the door behind her, Mordred rushes over to Kairi's side as Saber removes his jacket and shirt, revealing the gun wounds on his left lung and waist.

"Hang on Sisigou, you're going to be alright." Saber gave a quick pat on Kairi's left shoulder before turning her head. "Sella, Leysritt! Where the fuck are you, god dammit?!"

"Coming ma'am!" Leysritt yelled after she collected multiple bags of blood from the bottom drawer of the refrigerator. She closes it as Sella hastily walks over to her with a syringe, a tube and several rolls of bandages in her hands. They rush out of the kitchen and over to the couch.

"You must be Ricky's mother." Chulainn said as he, Rin and Sakura walk over to her. Shirou, Illya and Yukari stood behind Saber and Ricky as Sella and Leysritt hands them the medical equipment and bags of blood.

After giving Chulainn a nod, Ricky's mother asked, "What's happening out there?"

"Hell and chaos." Rin simply answered.

"And no one is safe, even if they are hiding." Sakura added.

While Ricky inserts one end of the tube into one of the bags of blood, Saber wraps the bandages around Kairi's upper body to stop the bleeding from the wound on his left lung. "Are you still with me?" Saber asked Kairi who is breathing very heavily.

"Sir, please hang on." Mordred choked as she clings onto Kairi's hand.

"Ar…Arturia…" Kairi managed to speak.

"Hold on! You're going to be fine!" Saber cried as she finished wrapping the bandages around his upper body. Ricky also finished inserting the other end of the tube into the syringe.

"I…I've always…believe…you are a good person."

Saber glances at Kairi with her mouth agape before she begins wrapping the bandages around his waist.

"Even though…you were hot-headed…stubborn…that's what I've always liked about you." Kairi added. Saber bites down her lip as she fights back the tears that are starting to form in her eyes.

"Come on sir! Not much longer now! You have to hang on!" Mordred cried as tears also begin forming in her eyes.

Kairi slowly turned to Mordred and said barely above a whisper between his heavy breathing, "Mordred…look after…Arturia…"

"Don't talk to me like that!" Mordred paused for a moment to take a gulp as a few tears have managed to escape and roll down her cheeks unchecked. "Please!"

"Ricky! Inject the blood dammit!" Saber shouted at her second-in-command. Ricky wasted no time in going over to Kairi's side. He gently takes Kairi's hand from Mordred and carefully injects the syringe into his wrist. Kairi looked back at Saber, who noticed that the color in his eyes is draining.

"Sisigou…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry for everything…" Saber said with her voice beginning to croak as she struggles to hold back her tears.

Kairi flashes a smirk at her. "Don't be…and don't stop…don't stop fighting…" With that, he closes his eyelids and his head tilted to the side.

Ricky removes the syringe from his wrist and everyone present in the living room stared at Kairi, lying utterly motionless on the couch.

"Sisigou?" Saber uttered.

"Sir?" Mordred added. She grabs his arm and places her fingers on his wrist. But to her horror, she could not feel his pulse. "Sir." She looks back at Kairi with her eyes widened. "Please wake up, sir. Please wake up." When she didn't receive any response, she raised her voice, "Please wake up, sir! PLEASE WAKE UP, GOD DAMMIT!"

As she releases his arm, Mordred threw her head onto Kairi's chest and sobbed uncontrollably. "Sir! Please wake up! Please don't leave me!" She bawled in despair.

Ricky turned to Saber, who is unable to hold back her tears any longer.

"I…I'm so sorry…I'm sorry, Inspector…I am-" Saber wailed in inconsolable grief as she closes her eyelids and finally let her tears cascade down her cheeks. As much as she didn't want to believe it, Inspector Kairi Sisigou is gone, and there is nothing she could do but accept the horrible truth.

* * *

_**4 Years Ago...** _

Inspector Kairi Sisigou stared at the young woman standing in front of him with her chest raised and her hands placed firmly behind her back.

"Are you Corporal Arturia Pendragon?" Kairi inquired.

"Yes sir. I was recently assigned by the commissioner to be your partner." Arturia replied. As Kairi continued staring at her in confusion, Arturia asked, "Is there something wrong, sir?"

"No, nothing really." Kairi said, placing his hands on the sides of his hip. "It's just that for someone as young as you, I'm impressed you already rise up to the rank of Corporal so quickly."

"I may be young at age and short at stature, but I can assure you that I'm dedicated to the cause. I've worked hard to graduate from the academy so that I can be a member of the force, sir." Arturia explained.

"I heard that you got yourself into some trouble in the academy. You may have graduated from your training but you still need to learn disciple." Kairi pointed out.

"I admit that my conduct back in the academy was satisfactory, but that's because I do not tolerate failure, sir. If there is an obstacle, I fight my hardest. And if there is a problem, I immediately respond and work on it." Arturia replied.

Kairi smiled at her. "Although you are not perfect, I admired your strength and commitment. I look forward to working alongside you as my partner and apprentice." He extends his hand out to her.

Arturia stares at his hand for a moment before she gave a wan smile to her new superior and grabs it. "The honor is mine, Inspector Sisigou."

* * *

Saber continued crying as she remained on her knees. She could never forget the day she first met Kairi and became his partner. She still vividly remembers all the times and missions they spent together, as well as the calm and determined smirk on his face. But the man whom she considered her friend and partner is gone and her heart had been torn furiously by his death.

"I'm sorry Sisigou…I'm sorry…I'm sorry for everything…" Saber kept apologizing in vain as she grieved over him. And not able to withstand watching her sobbing in a state of despair any longer, Ricky embraced her.

"Hey. Come on. Stay strong, will you?" Ricky whispered into her ear as he hugs her tightly. Saber was stunned by his action for a moment before she wraps her arms around him and cried on his shoulder.

"Dammit…God dammit!" Saber bawled unhappily.

Mordred silently watched the two embraced each other in emotional pain as her tears freely roll down her cheeks. Shirou, Rin, Sakura, Illya, Sella and Leysritt lower their heads in pained silence. Yukari covers her mouth as her eyes brim with tears. Chulainn grits his teeth and turns his head away in sorrow while Ricky's mother wipes away her tears.

Ricky continued holding onto Saber as she kept crying. "It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. I'm still here for you." He said soothingly to her.

* * *

Thirty minutes had passed, and even though Saber is done crying and her tears have dried up, she could still feel the pain inside her. Her eyes and face are filled with nothing but a sense of hopelessness. She sat at the couch, staring blankly at the floor while Yukari and Illya sat beside her to comfort her.

Kairi's lifeless body was laid on the floor with a white blanket placed over it. Mordred kneeled beside it, never moving and taking her sight away from him even if she wanted to. Shirou, Ricky and his mother sat together silently at the dining table, contemplating what to do next.

A few seconds later, Rin, Sella and Leysritt step out of the kitchen while carrying metal trays containing a bowl filled with fruits and several cups of water.

Sella goes over to the dining table and placed the bowl of fruits on the middle.

"Thanks Sella." Ricky smiled at her as he takes an apple.

"You're welcome, Mr. Blade." Sella bows her head to him.

"So who are you and Leysritt? Are you two members of Gilgamesh's mercenary group as well?" Shirou asked as he grabs a banana from the bowl.

"No. They were hired by Saber to be her servants. Just like how she hired me to become a part of our group." Ricky explained to Shirou.

"Yes." Sella said. "So there is nothing to worry. We do not follow the man you are after."

"Glad to hear that." Shirou said in relief as he began peeling off the skin from the banana.

"I never thought our reunion would be under these circumstances." Ricky's mother said solemnly to her son.

"Yeah. But honestly, it's still good to see you again, mom. How are you holding up?" Ricky asked in concern.

"I'm fine." His mother smiled at him. "Sella and Leysritt have been very nice to me. And during my stay here, I even found a new job of my own."

"That's great to hear." Ricky said.

His mother nods as her smile disappears. "And I also spent the last two years reflecting over what I did." She lowers her head as she felt a huge amount of guilt within her. "I'm really sorry, Roderick. It's my fault that you dropped out of school and forced yourself to take on the life that you're having now. None of this would have ever happen to you if I hadn't ended up with Dean. I was so distraught over losing your father that I even lost myself."

When she felt Ricky placing his hand on top of hers, his mother looks back at him. "It's alright, mom. No matter what, you will always be my mother. And I'll always look out for you because I'm your son." Ricky reassured her. His mother smiled again as she places her hand above Ricky's and gently strokes it.

Rin kneels beside Mordred as she drank her cup of water which she handed to her earlier.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Rin said softly to Mordred.

"Thanks." Mordred said as she looks back at her.

"I know how it feels losing someone close to you." Rin said.

Mordred looks down at her cup which she holds in her hands. "Even after Arturia became a criminal, Inspector Sisigou never stopped thinking about her. I guess it's because he treated her more than his partner, but also his friend. It's like despite what she did, he still forgave her. I admired Inspector Sisigou. I wanted to be just like him." She glances at Saber who is still sitting on the couch with Yukari and Illya before turning back to Rin. "And looking back, I wish I could find myself forgiving Arturia too."

Everyone present in the living room turn their heads when they hear the bathroom door open. Sakura steps out while she is now dressed in a sleeveless dark tan vest with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath it, a black skirt, white socks and brown shoes. After wiping her hair, she removes and lowers her towel to let her long purple hair flow down.

"Leysritt, thanks for the clothing and letting me wash up." Sakura said.

"You're welcome." Leysritt responded as she bows her head to her.

Sakura turns to Rin who smiled at her. "Good to see you back to normal. I never liked your hair being white." Rin said.

"Yeah, me neither." Sakura replied as she gently strokes the strands of hair over her forehead. "And you guys already have someone with white hair anyway."

Illya pouts at Sakura. "I should have expected Rin's sister would have the same bad sense of humor as her."

Sakura, Rin, Shirou, Ricky, his mother, Mordred and Yukari laughed in response. Surprisingly, Saber couldn't help but chuckle as well. Yukari turns to Saber and smiled at her as she places her hand on her thigh.

"Feeling better?" Yukari asked.

Saber's smile quickly disappeared as she lets out a sigh. "I guess so." She replied as she turns to Yukari. "But now we have to ponder on what are we going to do next." She turns to Ricky and asked, "Where's Chulainn?"

"He's at the balcony of my mother's room. I'll go join him because I need to take a smoke." Ricky replied.

"So do I. Can I join you?" Saber asked.

Ricky gave a wan smile and gestures her to follow him. "Why not?"

* * *

As Ricky and Saber enters the bedroom, they could see Chulainn leaning against the railing of the balcony with a cigarette inserted through his lips. They walk over to the large glass windows and Ricky slides them open.

"Hey Cuchu." Ricky said.

Chulainn removes the cigarette from his mouth and turns to them. "Hey." He replied and waves his hand as Ricky and Saber steps into the balcony. As Ricky closes the window behind them, Saber takes out her box of cigarettes from underneath her suit and opens it.

"Tch. Only two left." Saber said, looking peeved.

"Let's make them last." Ricky said to her. Saber chuckled as they each take a cigarette. After tossing the now empty box over the railing, Chulainn takes out his lighter and lights up their cigarettes. Saber and Ricky remove their cigarettes from their mouths and blow out the smoke before they and Chulainn turn and lean against the railing, looking at the skyline of the Isle of Dogs in front of them. For now, the screams of fear and horror have died down throughout the area, but they can still see the smoke billowing from the areas which Gilgamesh's men have bombed in the distance.

"To think that a few hours ago, this place was calm and peaceful." Saber said as her eyes softened.

"Our hometown has experienced many attacks before. I never imagine I would ever be in one." Ricky said solemnly.

"You know, I honestly never find myself liking England." Chulainn uttered. "But the reason why I came here it's because when I was a kid, I heard many wonderful stories about the country, as well as their history, culture and cuisine. So when I grow up, I moved here to find a job, because it's my dream to live here. And shortly after I did that, reality spit me hard in the face. I went from job to job, trying my best to adapt into this new world. Instead, everywhere I go, I only received scorn from others. Everybody treated me like shit…all because I'm an Irish. I can never forget the manager of the restaurant I used to work in Manchester, deducting my pay whenever I make a simple screw-up. As well as those fuckers whom I thought were my friends in my next job after that. And when I got myself arrested, I almost felt like giving up and accept the fact that I'm not welcomed here." He paused for a moment to inhale his cigarette and blows out the smoke from his mouth afterwards. Chulainn lowers his cigarette and turns to his teammates. "Until you two came along…"

* * *

_**2 Years Ago…** _

_**Liverpool, England, United Kingdom** _

Chulainn, with his wrists cuffed, walked through the hallways of Merseyside Police Headquarters alongside two police officers, a sergeant and a corporal.

"You have messed up big time, Cu Chulainn." The sergeant, who is walking in front of Chulainn said as he looked at the documents in his hand with a lopsided smirk. "Smuggling over 80 stones of cocaine between England and Ireland? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Who's going to help put your children through college now, huh?"

"I've already told you multiple times! I was set up! I really had no idea that the crates were containing drugs and the real people whom you should be after betrayed me!" Chulainn cried.

"I guess you sniffed too much of that stuff to actually remember what you did." The corporal, who is escorting Chulainn from behind, responded as he gave a rough push on his back. Chulainn growled in frustration as the two policemen chortled.

"Sergeant!" A low-ranking police officer cried as he runs up to them.

"What the hell is it?" The sergeant narrows his eyes at him in annoyance. The policeman hands him a document and the sergeant curtly snatches it from his hand. As soon as he took a glance at the document, the sergeant drops his jaw and widens his eyes in shock. After taking only a few moments to read it, the sergeant turns around and ordered the corporal, "Release him."

"What?!" The corporal asked incredulously as he and Chulainn stared at him dumbfounded.

"Just fucking do it!" The sergeant barked.

The corporal flinched. He takes out his keys and unlocks the handcuffs around Chulainn's wrists. After the cuffs are removed, Chulainn rubs his wrists and turns to the sergeant, who stares back at him irritably. "Get the hell out of here."

* * *

Chulainn steps out of the police station, still completely baffled by what had just happened back there. One moment, he was arrested and ready to be taken to his cell where he will remain until the day he faces prosecution for a crime which he was wrongfully framed for, and now he is walking out of the station scot-free. When he arrived at the pavement, he sees a black SUV pulled up to the curb and came to a halt in front of him. The window lowered, revealing a blonde-haired woman in a black suit.

"Good evening, Cu Chulainn." The woman greeted.

"Who are you?" Chulainn asked.

"The ones who got you out of there." The woman opens the door for Chulainn and gestures him to come inside. "Hop on."

Chulainn stared at her in confusion for a moment before stepping forward and entering the vehicle. After being framed for a horrendous crime and possibly losing his job as a result, he doesn't have much of a choice but to join her. As he entered the vehicle and sat beside the woman, he noticed another person sitting on the other side of the SUV. He leans forward to see the blonde-haired man in a white shirt waving his hand at him.

"Hello, good sir." The man greeted cordially with a smirk.

"Um, hi?" Chulainn responded as he waves back.

"Settle down. We have much to discuss." The woman said to Chulainn who leans back on his seat and fastens his safety belt. The window beside him closes and the SUV drives away from the police station.

"Kiritsugu, we have collected Cu Chulainn." The driver said as she places her finger on her earpiece.

" _Good. Return back immediately." Kiritsugu replied._

"Understood." The driver responded before removing her finger and placing her hand back on the steering wheel.

"You are one lucky man tonight, Cuchu. And you should be thanking her." The man said to Chulainn with his arms fold and motions his head to the woman sitting between them.

"Cuchu?" Chulainn looked back at the man in annoyance.

"Ahem." The woman coughed, causing both men to fall silent. She turns to Chulainn and extends her hand out to him. "My name is Saber. It's a pleasure to have you with us." Chulainn silently grabs her hand and shakes it. "The man next to me is Ricky Blade, and our driver is Maiya Hisau."

"How ya?" Ricky grins at Chulainn while giving a mock salute. "I'm sure that's what they say back in Dublin, right?"

Chulainn grumbles under his breath before looking back at Saber and releases her hand. "Nice to meet all of you, but would you guys now care to explain why did you guys set me free? And what do you want from me?"

"Simple. We set you free because we know you are innocent." Saber answered as she places her hands on her thighs. "You were set up by your co-workers into helping them deliver crates of raw minerals to the docks when they actually contain bags of cocaine."

"They are secretly operating a drug ring which we have actually been tracking down and they used you as a scapegoat. But thanks to Maiya's penmanship, she created a document to fool the cops back at Merseyside that you were granted pardon from the mayor of Liverpool." Ricky explained.

"We also know you were a constant victim of workplace bullying in every job you had taken since you set foot in England." Saber said.

"Yeah well, I guess in this country, that's what happens when you are of a different nationality." Chulainn responded plainly as he shrugged.

"But there is one job you did that intrigued us, and that is you were a pit fighter for a night club when you were in Bolton." Ricky said.

"I did what I had to do to live and survive. And admittedly, I also wanted to let out my frustrations at the time." Chulainn explained.

"You do have my sympathies. Despite having experience in Ireland's Defence Forces, you had a terrible life back in Dublin, and then you suffer even more after moving here to England." Saber said.

"Sucks, right?" Chulainn said morosely. "I always thought England was a swell place. But the more you stay here, the more you realize that the idea of living in another country is better than the reality of it! You Englishmen live and work here in luxury, not caring why we foreigners came to your homeland and do what we gotta do to strive for a better life."

"Hey, we know how you feel." Ricky said as he leans forward while twirling his hair. "You think every one of us is living in luxury? If so, every British citizen should be richer than the Queen of England by now!" He snickered at his joke. "I know how it's like getting beaten every day, with no one around to help you out in your troubled times. I almost gave up living. But then I realized…" Chulainn stares at Ricky questioningly as he leans back on his seat and places his leg over the other. "If life hits you hard, you damn well hit it back harder."

"I admire your strength and determination to keep living, Chulainn. It's sad that the people around you are too blind to see how much of a resilient man you truly are, rather using you as a tool instead of someone far greater. Those fat cats living in ivory towers you mention? I agree with you." Saber leans towards Chulainn and said coldly right in front of his face, "They have no fucking idea how much we have done for them."

"So what do you guys plan to use me for?" Chulainn asked.

Saber backs away and extends out her hand again. "I want you to work with me and Ricky. Let's change this world together and show those fucks what we're capable of." She said.

Chulainn silently stares at her hand for a moment before scratching his head with an arched eyebrow. "Well, I really find all of this coming to me very sudden. You think you might give me time to-"

"How about if we punish the fuckers who got you into trouble, you might reconsider?" Ricky asked Chulainn, his smile curling up to a fiendish smirk.

"You guys can do that?" Chulainn asked incredulously.

"Do it." Saber ordered her partner.

Ricky places his finger on his earpiece as he looks up. "Burst into their unit now."

" _Yes sir." The man at the other side of the line responded._

Ricky hums merrily as he proceeds to take out a tablet from the compartment at the back of Maiya's seat and turns it on. When the footage appears, he shows the tablet to Chulainn. To his surprise, Chulainn sees his former co-workers, the same people who forced him to do their dirty work and got himself arrested for doing so, sitting and standing around the living room of an apartment while drinking bottles of beer and having three prostitutes providing company for them. The doorbell rang and one of the co-workers lazily gets up from the couch and walks over to the door. After peeking through the hole, the man opens up the door. To everyone's alarm, as soon as the door is unlocked, several men in black suits burst into the apartment.

"Don't move!" One of them yelled as they draw out their pistols at Chulainn's former co-workers. The co-workers and prostitutes immediately fell to their knees and raise their hands up. The black suited men proceed to put away their pistols, draw out their batons and mercilessly beat up Chulainn's former co-workers, much to the shock and horror of the prostitutes.

Ricky whistled as he watches the footage in amusement. "Quite a show." He remarked.

"Tch." Saber snorted. "Honestly, if I was there, I would have killed them." She scoffed.

After Ricky puts the tablet back into the compartment, Saber turns back to Chulainn and extends out her hand again. "So, have you made up your decision?" She asked.

Chulainn sighed inwardly with a scowl. "I've met many people like them throughout my stay here in England. They make me sick." He looks up at Saber with a wide smile. "And I'm glad there are people like you who know how to teach them a lesson." He grabs Saber's hand and shakes it again. "Alright. You convinced me enough to join you. I'll be even happier if you can show me the ropes."

"Of course I will." Saber smirked. "Welcome to the team…Lancer."

* * *

"Heh. That was a good meeting." Saber said before taking another puff of her cigarette while the three continue staring at the city skyline.

"Aye." Ricky said in agreement. "Cuchu was kind of hesitant back then."

Chulainn snickered. "I was. But looking back, I don't regret what I did. It was a pleasure fighting alongside all of you. I felt like I finally had a purpose in living." His eyes softened and his lips transform into a wide smile. "And also realize that there are people out there who do accept me for who and what I am."

Saber smiled at Chulainn for a brief moment before Ricky spoke up, "Speaking of, Saber…" He lowers his cigarette and he and Saber turn to each other. She notices the solemn frown on his face. Chulainn also turned to the two and watched. "Why did you accept me? Why did you help me take down Dean? Do you ever truly care about me back then?"

Saber pursed her lips together as she stares wordlessly at Ricky for a moment. "I helped you because you were afraid. You were too afraid to help your mother and fight against the monster who tortured the both of you. I never want you to suffer the pain you went through any longer. I have come across many people who have reached out to the police for help, hoping that they can aid them in their desperate time of need. Some were lucky, but most were not. I wanted to help Candace Miller, but she died never getting the protection she need. That's why I didn't want the same thing to happen to you. In order to save you, I taught you to fight back and protect yourself, and I'm glad I did."

Ricky elicited a harsh sob as he stares at Saber. "So you do care." He said.

"I do." Saber replied softly with a wan smile.

Ricky managed to break out a small grin. He tosses his cigarette over the railing and takes Saber's hand. Saber also tosses her cigarette away before placing her hand on Ricky's shoulder and sliding it around his back. Ricky lowers himself to her level and also wraps his hand around her back as the two find themselves pulling each other into a warm embrace.

"It feels good to have you back." Saber whispered into Ricky's ear as they rest on each other's shoulders. She could feel Ricky nod his head in response.

Chulainn tosses his cigarette over the balcony as well and stuffs his hands into his pockets. He smiled as he quietly watches the two stay in their embrace. A few seconds later, their moment of peace and silence was interrupted when the three could hear a voice speaking into their earphones.

" _Team Saber! Can you read me? Please respond!"_

Everyone widen their eyes. It wasn't Maiya, but it was still a voice that Saber recognized. She and Ricky pull away from each other before she turns back to the skyline and places her finger on her earpiece.

"Medusa? Is that you?" Saber inquired.

" _Roger. Good to hear from you, Saber." Medusa replied. "Maiya sent me and my team to help you out."_

"That's great. Thank you for coming to assist us." Saber said.

" _You're welcome." Medusa said. "Now listen up…"_

* * *

After everyone gathered in the study room, Sella pushes the bookshelf aside, revealing a metal door. Leysritt opens the door to reveal a dark room. She flips the switch on to unveil several weapon racks, filled and neatly arranged with all sorts of pistols, rifles, sub-machineguns, machetes, combat knives and ammunition clips.

"Heilige Scheiße." Illya uttered as she, Shirou, Rin, Chulainn, Yukari, Sakura and Mordred stare at the racks in awe.

"Suit yourselves up, and get ready to enter the lion's den." Saber said to her team.

Ricky's mother, Sella and Leysritt stay outside while the others step inside the room and examine the weapons. A few minutes ago, Medusa had explained to them that she and her teammates are now stationed at the south end of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel which had been destroyed. They have taken out Gilgamesh's men who were guarding the area and thanks to Chiron; they successfully interrogated one of them to reveal the location of their boss. It turns out Gilgamesh and his higher-ranking men are currently hiding at a construction site in Bellingham ward in the London Borough of Lewisham. Medusa also has a plan to help Saber and her teammates escape the Isle of Dogs, but they must reach the Island Gardens within an hour. With little time to spare, Saber and her team must quickly make their preparations. And when they do leave the area, they will head straight to Lewisham to deal with Gilgamesh and stop him before he launches the Grail missile onto the Canary Wharf. After their plan to stop the bombings has failed, Saber and her team have decided to bring the fight over to him.

"Yo Cuchu, perhaps you will like this." Ricky said as he hands Chulainn an SA80 rifle. Chulainn lets out a whistle as he grabs the rifle and examines it.

"As much as I like my AK-47, I should now get on with the times." Chulainn said in amusement.

"Amazing! This is the M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle which was actually used by the militaries of Turkey and the United States! I can't believe you guys have this in your safe house!" Shirou said gleefully with his eyes wide as he looks down at the sniper rifle in his hands.

"Gilgamesh provided me these weapons after I joined his group." Saber said while she inserts the ammunition clips into her Glocks. "Now we will attack him with his own weapons."

"Ironic backfire. I like that." Rin smirked as she inserts an ammunition clip into the SAR 21 rifle in her hand.

A huge grin appears of Illya's face as she pulls out a M134 Minigun from underneath the rifle rack. She adjusts the barrel and carries it up. "Payback time." She uttered.

Ricky's mother watches her son reloads his revolver and insert it into his pocket. After he picks up a Benelli M4 shotgun and pulls back the fore-end, his mother steps into the room and walks over to him. Knowing that this could possibly be the last time she will see him, Ricky's mother decided to speak with her son.

"Ricky?" She asked.

"What is it, mom?" Ricky asked as he wraps the strap of the shotgun over his shoulder.

"Watch yourself out there. And promise me you will come back alive." His mother said softly.

Ricky gave her a confident smirk. "Don't worry, mom. We will see each other again. I heard Italy is nice in spring. We'll go there together next year, aye?" He asked.

His mother smiled at him. "I love that." She said. Ricky gave his mother a brief hug as Sella and Leysritt walk up to her from behind.

"Sella, Leysritt, continue to take good care of her while we're gone." Ricky instructed the two servants as his mother backs away from him.

"Yes sir." Sella and Leysritt said in unison as they bow their heads to him.

"As always, we'll hold the fort here." Leysritt said.

"And we'll be sure to give Inspector Sisigou a proper burial when you are done with your mission." Sella added.

"Thank you. We appreciate it." Saber said to them as she inserts her Glocks into her pockets. She turns and walks up to Mordred as she inserts some shotgun rounds into the Mossberg 930 she is carrying in her hand.

"Mordred, I'm so sorry that I couldn't save Inspector Sisigou. He was a good officer and a friend." Saber said softly. After inserting the last shotgun round into her weapon, Mordred lifts it up and pulls back the fore-end. She turned to Saber with a look of somber and seriousness.

"Even after you left, Inspector Sisigou always believed that there is still good left in you. Do not disappoint him, even in death." Mordred said. Saber narrows her eyes and gave a solemn nod to her.

Meanwhile, Sakura wraps a belt of combat knives over her right shoulder and down to the left side of her waist. She picks up a Colt 9mm SMG and inserts the ammunition clip into it.

"Are you ready?" Rin asked Sakura as she places her hand on her shoulder.

"Always." Sakura replied with determined smile and she wraps the SMG's strap over her other shoulder.

Shirou walks over to Yukari after she inserts an M45 pistol and some ammunition clips underneath her suit.

"Never forget what I've taught you." Shirou said while carrying the M2010 sniper rifle in his hands.

"Even though I still don't enjoy using firearms, I'll still do my part in being a valuable asset to the team." Yukari said.

"Whatever happens, I'm glad to have fought alongside you, Yukari-chan." Shirou said to her with a warm smile.

"Likewise, Shirou-kun." Yukari smiled back at him.

"Alright, it's about time we move out! Is everyone ready?" Saber asked everyone present in the room. They nod their heads to her in response. As her face distorts into a scowl, Saber holds up her AA-12 and inserts a cylinder-shaped ammunition clip into it. "Let's go kick their arses out of this city."


	29. London, Part 3

A mercenary yells as he is sent flying through the air and crashing onto the front window of a car after his chest received a powerful blast from Saber's shotgun.

"Open fire!" Another mercenary shouted as the twenty remaining men fired their guns at Saber, Mordred, Chulainn and Ricky who are hiding behind some cars at the other side of the road.

"Come on guys! It's only four people!" Another one yelled as he continuously fires his rifle.

"Are you all ready?" Saber asked with her finger placed on her earphone.

" _Ready." Rin replied._

While the mercenaries are distracted with them, Saber, Mordred, Chulainn and Ricky look up at the top of a four-story building in front of them and see Rin and Sakura going behind the parapet.

"Here comes the cavalry." Chulainn said with a smirk. Rin fires her rifle and shoots down two of the mercenaries, causing them to turn their attention to her and Sakura.

"FIRE!" One of them yelled and they fire their guns at them.

Rin turns around and Sakura spreads out her arms as she places herself in front of her sister. After taking the bullets which did no effect on her, Sakura swiftly draws her combat knives from her belt and throws them at the mercenaries. The knives stab through the foreheads and chests of four mercenaries and they drop onto the ground.

Shortly afterwards, a bullet shot through the forehead of another mercenary. The remaining mercenaries spotted Shirou positioned behind a window at the third floor of the building with his sniper rifle. Shirou quickly reloads his weapon and fires again, shooting down another mercenary. Saber, Chulainn, Ricky and Mordred also take the opportunity to stand up from their hiding spots and fire their guns at the mercenaries.

After seeing seven more of his fellow men getting shot, one of them turn to the entrance of the Island Gardens and shouted desperately, "Bring out the rockets!"

Two mercenaries armed with rocket launchers quickly run out from the entrance. They kneel down on the pavement and aim their launchers at the car and the building.

"Get back!" Saber shouted. As she, Mordred, Chulainn and Ricky whirl about and run over to the building, as well as Shirou running away from the window, the two mercenaries fire their launchers and create two huge explosions as they destroy the car and a part of the building.

"Ha! Take that, assholes!" One of the mercenaries yelled with a grin. But it quickly disappears when they hear the sound of a spinning barrel.

"Is that a minigun?!" Another mercenary cried incredulously. Sure enough, when the smoke is cleared, they see Illya standing at the building's entrance, holding up and aiming her minigun at them while keeping a huge grin on her face.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Illya laughed maniacally as she fires her minigun mercilessly at the mercenaries. With a brutal rain of bullets, Illya shot down all seven remaining mercenaries and leaving several holes through their bodies.

After their bodies hit the floor, Illya removes her finger from the trigger, lowers her minigun and lets out a sigh. "I love my job." She said blissfully as Saber and the others run past her and out of the building.

"Let's go!" Saber ordered, gesturing her teammates to follow her to the Island Gardens. They pass by the wreckage and the bodies of the mercenaries and run through the entrance to enter the park.

Shortly after entering the park, Saber places her finger on her earpiece.

"Medusa! We are approaching the meeting point!" She said.

" _Understood. Wait right there. We're on our way." Medusa said._

Saber and her teammates make their way to the riverside where they are supposed to meet Medusa and her team. However, they were soon spotted by more of Gilgamesh's men.

"There they are!" One of the mercenaries yelled from a distance. He turns around and gestures the others to come over to his position.

As Chulainn, Illya, Rin, Sakura, Shirou, Ricky, Mordred and Yukari hold up their guns and prepare to fire back, Saber received a signal from her earpiece.

" _Saber, this is Fiore. We are almost near your position." Fiore said._

"Can you get yourselves here faster? We have been found!" Saber chided.

" _Sure, but we would like you all to get down." Fiore replied._

Saber removes her finger from her earpiece and yelled at her teammates, "Everyone, down on the ground!"

Everyone obliged and they quickly get down and lie on the ground. The mercenaries are about to fire their guns at them when suddenly, several bullets flew over Saber and her team and shot through their bodies.

Saber and her teammates turn their heads around to see a small but long river boat approaching the riverside. Standing at the front of the boat was Fiore, who is wearing her backpack and had two bottom robotic limbs poke through the floor to lift her up in the air. Meanwhile, the spikes of the upper limbs are opened up to reveal two machineguns and they fire several bullets at their enemies.

"Fall back!" One of the mercenaries yelled as he watches his fellow men getting shot and fall to the ground in horror. The remaining mercenaries drop their guns as they turn around and flee from the rain of bullets that Fiore is laying upon them.

"Welcome to London, ya cunts." Mordred muttered as she watched the escaping mercenaries.

When Fiore stop firing, Saber and her teammates get up from the ground and go over to the metal fences lined along the riverside.

"Welcome aboard, Team Saber. It's a pleasure to meet you all." Fiore smiled warmly as she gave them a salute. "Now stand back."

As Saber and her team step away, they watch in awe as Fiore brings down her top metal limbs, slamming the metal fences and creating a passageway to enter the boat. After Fiore brings up the limbs and backs away from the damaged fences, Saber steps on board the boat and Medusa, Caules, Chiron and Ayako arrived at the port to meet her.

"Thank you for your assistance, Medusa." Saber said as she extends her hand to her.

"You're welcome. Wish we could come sooner." Medusa replied while shaking Saber's hand. When Sakura steps into the boat however, Medusa gasps and immediately draws out her daggers. "You! The woman we fought in Keflavik!" Fiore, Caules, Chiron and Ayako also widen their eyes in realization and they aim their guns at her and prepare to fire.

"Wait, stop!" Saber cried as she places herself between Medusa and Sakura. "I've heard about your fight with her in Iceland. But we can assure you that she is with us."

"It's a long story, but she's on our side now." Rin said to Medusa as she and the others enter the boat.

"I apologized for my actions and association with Matou Industries." Sakura bowed apologetically to Medusa and her teammates. "I'll make up to all of you by fighting alongside you against Gilgamesh and his forces."

Medusa silently glares at Sakura for a moment before she lowers her daggers and gestures her teammates to lower their weapons. "Very well." Medusa said. "But if she does anything suspicious-"

"She won't. I swear." Saber replied to her.

"Your backpack is amazing." Yukari remarked as she, Chulainn, Ricky and Mordred examine Fiore's backpack and robotic limbs in awe.

"Why thank you." Fiore smiled at her. "Despite my disability, I still desire to fight alongside my brother in the battlefield. So with the combination of my intelligence and the assistance of Kiritsugu's top technicians, I've created this backpack to help me both fight and maneuver."

"That's my sister alright." Caules smirks at Yukari as he places his hand on Fiore's shoulder. "She always fights with both her skills and her brains."

"And what do you fight with?" Chulainn asked Caules as he arches a brow.

Caules flinched and sighs heavily. "That hurts." He murmured while Fiore giggled.

"Emiya-kun! It's been a while." Ayako said cheerfully as she and Shirou firmly grab each other's hands.

"Good to see you again, Mitsu-senpai." Shirou smiled warmly at her. "How are you doing?"

"Aside from getting my ass kicked in Iceland once, I'm doing alright." Ayako replied with a lopsided smirk. "What about you?"

"I'm fine too but man; so many things have happen to me and my team throughout this whole year. I would like to tell you all about them." Shirou said.

"I'll be happy to hear them. I did say that the next time we meet, we'll have a drink. Thankfully, we got some soda inside the boat." Ayako said.

"That's great." Shirou said with a small grin.

Ayako nods her head in agreement. When she turns her head to the side however, her smile instantly turned into a look of bewilderment. Standing nearby them was Illya, giving Ayako a dark and ugly scowl as she quietly watched her and Shirou interacting with each other.

"Umm, who are you?" Ayako asked her nervously.

Shirou chuckled. "Long story."

"As much as we love to get to know each other, I'm afraid we don't have much time." Chiron said solemnly to everyone present on the boat.

"He's right. We need to get to Lewisham right away to stop Gilgamesh. Let's go!" Saber said. Everyone nod their heads in response.

* * *

After travelling to the other side of the river, everyone got out of the boat and run over to a double decker bus parked beside the pavement. The bus was a vehicle that Medusa and her team managed to find shortly after their arrival to London and drove it all the way to the edge of Lewisham to get a river boat and pick Saber and her team up at the Isle of Dogs.

Everyone boarded the bus while Ayako gets into the driver seat and starts the engine. She turns her head around to see everyone sitting down in the passenger seats.

"Welcome aboard to Mitsuzuri Express and we hope you all have a wonderful and comfortable ride." Ayako grins at everyone before turning back to the front and begin driving to their destination.

The journey was fairly uneventful as the streets of Lewisham were peaceful and quiet. But that is because the streets are deserted and nearly devoid of life as the civilians living in boroughs near the Isle of Dogs have either fled or hid inside their homes and nearest safe areas, leaving a sense of dread and eeriness throughout Lewisham.

Yukari couldn't help but feel a familiar sense of despair as she and her teammates look around their surroundings. The scenery immediately reminded her of what happened to half of her former hometown four years ago. She could never forget the sense of sorrow and hopelessness that the destruction had brought upon her and her fellow former residents of Itomori. As he sat next to her, Chulainn places his hand on her shoulder. Yukari turns her head and gave a solemn nod as she stares boldly at him. After remembering what she had went through during that dreadful day, she is determined to not let the residents of London suffer the same fate as her.

Eventually, everyone arrived near their destination. After Ayako parked the bus beside the curb, everyone quickly got out and rush down the pavement. When they arrive near a corner, everyone stop. Saber and Medusa poke their heads out to see Gilgamesh's hideout looming in the distance.

It was a 30-storey tall building that is supposed to be an office upon completion. The top five floors of the building are still undergoing the final phase of the construction but the pillars and much of the walls around the lower floors have been installed. Tall metal fences covered with green sheets surround the site while standing in front of the entrance were two mercenaries armed with rifles. After examining the area, Saber and Medusa turn back to their teammates.

"Once we get inside, there is no turning back. Are you all ready?" Saber asked everyone. Everyone nod their heads and hold up their weapons. Saber sighs heavily. "It has been a pleasure fighting with all of you. You guys really are the damn best fighters anyone could ever have in their squad. We certainly have come a long way, so let's make every bullet we fire in our next battle count."

"And when all of this is over, let's go to the nearest bar and have a drink." Rin said.

"We'll buy the whole bar." Shirou smirked and winks an eye.

"And we'll have another drinking battle, shall we?" Yukari asked Chulainn with a playful smirk.

"Oh you're on." Chulainn replied to her as a sly grin takes form on his face.

"We're ready when you are, boss." Ricky said, pulling back the fore-end of his shotgun.

Saber smiled at her teammates before holding up her shotgun. "Let's give them hell."

"Move out!" Medusa ordered everyone and they proceed to run alongside the fences.

"What the?" One of the mercenaries said incredulously as he and the other turn their heads.

Before they could fire their rifles, Medusa leaps onto both of them and stabs her daggers into their chests as they all land on the ground. Medusa gets up and removes her daggers as Saber and the others arrive at the entrance. Everyone hold up their weapons and charge towards the glass doors of the building.

They burst through the doors and enter the foyer. At the end of the entrance hall were three pairs of elevator doors and they could see that the lifts are making their way down to the bottom floor. Everybody quickly go over to the circular reception counter at the center of the foyer and hide behind it. When they hear the bells ringing in unison, everyone get up and aim their guns at the elevator doors. The doors open, but to their surprise, the elevators are empty.

Medusa and her team lower their weapons for a moment. Caules was about to go over, but Saber swiftly places her hand on his shoulder to stop him. She removes her hand and aims her Glocks at the elevators. A few seconds later, several drones came flying down and out from the elevators.

"Fire!" Saber yelled. Everyone fire their guns at the drones as they fly above them and around the foyer.

As they managed to shoot some of them down, three drones fly over to the left side of the foyer and aim their turrets at Ayako and Medusa. The two women turn their heads as the drones began firing at them. Sakura quickly runs over and places herself in front of Ayako and Medusa, protecting them and taking the bullets that the drones have fired at her. When the firing stops, Rin steps forward and fires her rifle, shooting down the three drones. Sakura suddenly pulls out a combat knife from her belt, turns to her side and throws it at a drone that was about to fire at Rin. As the drone went down, Rin turns back to Sakura and the sisters smile as they nod their heads to each other. The two turn to Medusa and Ayako and they both nod to Sakura.

"Thank you." Medusa said. The four women run off together to continue fighting the drones.

Fiore and Illya stood back to back as they fire their robotic machine guns and minigun at the drones flying around them.

As they hide behind the counter, Shirou and Chiron fire their sniper rifles at the drones that are firing at their teammates.

Ricky and Mordred kneel beside each other as they fire their shotguns at the drones flying above them. When four more drones fly towards them, Caules run up to Ricky and Mordred from behind and throws a grenade at them. When the grenade hits the drones, a wave of electromagnetic energy surge through them and they all collapse onto the floor.

"EMP grenades. Take them." Caules said as he hands a few of his grenades to Ricky and Mordred. They take the grenades from his hands and the three run off to continue fighting the drones.

Saber and Yukari fire their Glocks and pistol at two drones in front of them. The two gasp and turn their heads around when they heard three more drones flying over to them from behind.

"Get down!" Saber shouted as she wraps her arm around Yukari and the two women ducked.

After shooting down another drone, Chulainn turns around to see Yukari and Saber hiding behind the counter as the three drones fire their turrets at them.

Chulainn whirled about to see a drone flying over to him. Before it could fire, Chulainn pulls out his combat knife, jumps up and stabs the drone with it. When his feet touched the ground, Chulainn turns around and tosses the drone over to the three that are firing at his teammates. The drone collided against them and they all explode. Yukari and Saber turn around as they get up. They turn to Chulainn and nod their heads. Chulainn responded to them with a smirk and a salute.

When Illya's minigun ran out of bullets, Ricky and Mordred go over to her side and fire their shotguns at the remaining drones that are in front of her. Afterwards, they lower their shotguns and throw their EMP grenades over to a swarm of drones that are flying around Sakura, Rin, Medusa and Ayako. The drones are hit with surges of electromagnetic energy before they fall and crash onto the floor.

Caules also throw his own EMP grenade at four drones that are firing at his sister. After the drones are hit and drop onto the floor, Caules turn to Fiore. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. Thanks." Fiore replied to her brother.

"All drones are taken down." Ayako said as everyone look around the foyer. The floor is now littered with burning or disabled drones and broken parts.

"Then let's move!" Saber yelled before she and Yukari jump over the counter.

Everyone make their way to the elevators until they heard a stampede. They turn to the entrance and see several mercenaries running their way to the glass doors.

"Dammit! At this rate, we'll never reach Gilgamesh in time!" Ricky growled.

"This trash at the entrance is ours." Medusa said as she, Caules, Fiore, Chiron and Ayako step forward with their weapons. She turns her head to Saber and the others who are near the elevators. "Go after Gilgamesh and stop him from launching the missile!"

"Understood." Saber replied. She turns to the others and yelled, "Go!" As they run over to the elevators, Medusa holds up her daggers and gets into a fighting stance.

"Are you all ready?" Medusa asked her teammates.

"Heh, always." Ayako smiled as she, Chiron, Caules and Fiore hold up their guns.

"Let's give them hell and at least go out with a bang." Chiron added.

"God damn right." Caules agreed.

Fiore turns her head and sees Saber and the others standing inside one of the elevators before the doors close. As the elevator goes up, Fiore smiled and bows her head. "Good luck, Team Saber." The glass doors burst open and several mercenaries enter the building.

"Here they come!" Fiore yelled as she turns back to the front to see the mercenaries hold up their weapons and prepare to fire.

"ATTACK!" Medusa shouted. She and her team yell as they charge at the mercenaries. Soon afterwards, the crackling sound of gunfire could be heard from outside of the building.

* * *

Saber and her team stood in tense silence as they felt the elevator go up. Medusa and her team have sacrificed themselves to allow them to go after Gilgamesh and stop his plans in destroying London. They know that they cannot let their sacrifice go in vain.

When the elevator came to a stop, Saber and the others look up above the doors to see that they have arrived at the twenty-fifth floor. With the top five floors still undergoing construction, they would have to continue their journey on foot. Everyone step out as soon as the doors open.

As Saber and Mordred take the lead, they hold up their guns and turn side to side as everyone rush their way through the open area. The floor is deserted and the only objects that are lying around are metal barrels, crates, tool trolleys, a wheelbarrow, large rolls of cables, bags of cement stacked on top of each other and several other construction equipment. They could feel the wind blowing through their hair and clothes and hear echoes of the ensuing gunfight happening below the building because the walls that are supposed to line both sides of the floor they are currently in are not built yet.

Everyone see a large metal door in the distance and Saber gestures them to go over there. As they go nearer however, they heard the sound of an engine being started. Everyone turn around to see Cornelius driving a forklift and making a sharp turn to face them. He laughed maniacally with his eyes wide as he drives towards them.

"Run!" Saber shouted. As everybody else rush towards the doors, Shirou stays behind for a moment to aim his sniper rifle at the forklift and successfully fires a shot at the left front tire. Cornelius screams as his forklift is sent skidding across the floor and slam against a nearby pillar. Shirou turns around and runs off. He catches up with the others as Saber presses the red button at the side and the metal door slowly slides upwards.

Suddenly, a shot was fired and barely misses Saber as the bullet landed against the wall and above the button.

Everyone turn around again to see Cornelius snarling in rage as he approaches them while aiming his cane at them. Blood pooled out from a fresh wound at the side of his head which he received during the crash.

"Damn you fuckers! THAT FUCKING HURT!" Cornelius screamed furiously before he pulls the trigger and fires another shot with his cane gun. Sakura places herself in front of her teammates and the bullet shot into her chest. As the bullet drops onto the floor and her wound quickly heals up, Sakura pulls out her SMG and fires several bullets at Cornelius.

Cornelius screams in agony as the rain of bullets shot through his chest, arms and shoulders. Sakura stops firing her weapon and everyone watch as Cornelius throws himself back and make several painful coughs. But when he slowly lifts himself back up, he cackled maniacally with his eyes wide. Everyone stare at Cornelius in shock and terror as the gun wounds he received from Sakura have quickly healed up.

"No way!" Rin cried.

"Don't tell me…he's injected with the Od serum?!" Sakura cried incredulously.

"That's right!" Cornelius said cheerfully. "The serum has done wonders for me and my friends! Thanks Matou Industries!" He wipes off the blood from the side of his head before hastily making his way to Saber and her team.

"We gotta get out of here!" Ricky cried as everyone turns back to the door which has opened halfway.

"Get in! Now!" Saber ordered, gesturing everyone to go through the opening. Wasting no time at all, everyone hurriedly crouch down and go underneath the door.

Saber, Ricky, Mordred, Chulainn, Shirou, Illya, Rin and Sakura safely entered the next room. But unfortunately for Yukari, when she tried to follow suit, she scream in sheer terror as Cornelius grabs her by the back of her suit and pulls her away.

"CASTER!" Saber screamed as she runs over to the door. But Cornelius quickly holds up his cane gun at Saber and fires a bullet at her stomach. Saber yells in pain as she falls over.

"SABER!" Ricky yelled in horror as he and the others go over to her side. After tossing Yukari aside, Cornelius fires his cane gun at the button and the metal door swiftly slides down, separating himself and Yukari from Saber and her teammates.

"Arturia! Are you alright?! Answer me!" Mordred cried as everyone gathered around Saber.

"Don't die on me, Saber!" Ricky shouted as he quickly opens up her suit. Saber coughed as she looks down at her stomach. After her second-in-command had removed her suit, Saber opens up her shirt to reveal a bulletproof vest underneath it. Everyone sigh in relief as Saber picks up the bullet on her stomach and throws it aside.

"Where's Caster?" Saber asked.

"She's at the other side with that lunatic!" Rin answered in alarm.

"No, no, no! CASTER!" Saber screamed in terror as she gets up from the floor and rushes over to the door. She kneels down and tries to pull it up, but it wouldn't move. She turns her head around and shouted at everyone, "Come on guys! We have to save Caster!"

"But what about Gilgamesh?!" Mordred cried. "He may launch the missile at any time and we can't afford-"

"Shut the fuck up, Mordred!" Saber barked at her. "I have lost Sisigou and I'm not going to lose Yukari too! NOW HELP ME, GOD DAMMIT!"

Mordred stared wordlessly at Saber as Ricky, Chulainn, Shirou, Illya, Rin and Sakura rush over to her side and desperately try to pull the door up. She never thought the woman whom she sees as a criminal and a traitor after committing a murder and defecting the police would still show care for others, especially when they are in a dire situation. Sisigou was right. Despite what she did in the past, there is still good inside her after all. Snapping out of her thoughts, Mordred rush over to the door and help the others. Everyone groan as they try to pull the door open. But despite the combination of their strengths, the door would not barge.

"Open, god dammit! FUCKING OPEN!" Saber roared as she slams her fists against the door a few times. She places her hands at the bottom of the door and attempts to pull it open again. She knows that Yukari isn't a fighter just like the rest of them, which is why they cannot afford to stall and rescue her as soon as possible before that lunatic in the red coat delivers whatever sickening and atrocious fate that awaits her. "Hold on, Caster! We're coming for you! HOLD ON!"

* * *

Yukari backs away horrified as Cornelius slowly approaches her with a malicious grin on his face that sends chills down her spine.

"Since I'm still pretty pissed about what your friend did to me earlier, I guess I'll just let out my frustrations on you in the meantime." Cornelius said before he claps his hands and cracks his fingers.

As Cornelius walks over and gets ready to attack her, Yukari draws out her M45 pistol and fires a bullet at his right shoulder. Cornelius stops for a moment as he turns to his right shoulder and a bullet falls out from his wound before it heals up. With a grunting laugh, Cornelius turns back to Yukari who stared back at him, fearing for her life. "I see. Your job…IS TO ALSO FUCKING PISS ME OFF!"

Without warning, Cornelius swings his left fist at Yukari and punches her across her right cheek. Yukari cried in agony as the powerful blow of his punch sends her turning around and falling onto the floor with a heavy thud.

"Now, I know what you're thinking…" Cornelius spoke again as Yukari lifts her head up and turns back to him. Cornelius cups his chin as he looks down at her. "Isn't it wrong for a man to attack a woman? And the answer is...YES!" He snaps his fingers. "Men should never resort to violence whenever they are dealing with a woman. But unfortunately…" As his teeth broke out into an evil grin, he holds up a finger in front of his face and wags it side to side. "I am  _not_  one of them."

Yukari gasped as Cornelius proceeds to swing his leg up and delivers a massive kick to the bottom of her jaw, sending her falling to the floor again. Cornelius laughed maniacally as he watches his helpless victim gets up and runs away for her life in sick satisfaction.

"That's right! Run like the helpless bitch you are!" Cornelius shouted as Yukari runs over to the nearest pillar and hides behind it.

As she leans against the pillar and breathes heavily, Yukari listened to Cornelius' tirade and footsteps which echo throughout the whole floor.

"You and your friends really remind me of those police officers. They think they are so high and mighty because they wear those uniforms and badges. THEY MAKE ME SICK!"

Yukari gasped as soon as she stopped hearing his footsteps. She made a sharp ninety-degree turn to her right, right before Cornelius appears at the left and swings his fist, slamming it against the pillar. Yukari ran off and goes over to a pile of cement bags that are stacked on top of each other.

"They don't give a rat's ass when they brutally beat up my parents." As Cornelius pulls his fist away from the wall, he swiftly turns his head to see Yukari hiding behind the cement bags. With a chuckle, Cornelius slowly walks over.

"All we just did was accidentally going over the speed limit. And what did they do when they pull us over? They fucking beat them up with their batons like my parents were nothing but animals in a circus. DO YOU KNOW HOW THAT FEELS?!"

Cornelius slams himself against the pile of cement bags, causing Yukari to yelp as she stumbles forward. When the cement bags fall over and hit the floor, Yukari whirls about and widens her eyes in horror as she came face-to-face with a furious-looking Cornelius. She turns to her right and runs off again while Cornelius continues walking after her.

"When my parents sued them for assault, the officers did go to trial. But you know what happened? The judge acquitted them for their crime. HE FUCKING ACQUITTED THOSE ASSHOLES!"

As he bellowed, Cornelius lifts up his cane gun and fires a shot at Yukari. Yukari shrieks in agony as the bullet slashed her right shoulder, leaving a tear on the right sleeve of her suit and a fresh gash on her skin.

Yukari fell on a knee as she grabs her right shoulder in pain. She began whimpering in fear and agony as she could feel the blood soaking her suit and pouring out through her fingers.

"And that is when our entire lives are ruined. Everyone in school made fun of me because of what my parents went through. My parents themselves also face humiliation at work. We all became the jokes of the town…AND IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT! I FUCKING HATE THEM!"

Yukari turns her head for only a second before Cornelius delivers a massive kick to her back. Yukari lets out an agonizing howl as she falls onto the ground.

"That's why we're going to destroy this damn city. I want every fucking member of the police to pay for what they did to us. The entire justice system in this city is plagued. And with Gilgamesh's help, we are going to bring the whole, fucking diseased, corrupt temple down on their heads! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Cornelius cackled as he gleefully watches Yukari slowly gets herself up and staggers over to the wall while clinging onto her shoulder wound. As Yukari turns around and leans against the wall, she momentarily groans in pain as she leans on the bruise on her back which Cornelius gave earlier. She looks up with tears cascading down her cheeks and sees Cornelius holding up and aiming his cane gun at her.

"It's going to be biblical." Cornelius finished with a wide grin plastered across his face. Yukari turns to the side before Cornelius fires his gun and leaves a bullet mark on the wall where she was positioned before. Yukari runs off again, much to Cornelius' amusement.

"You can't run away from me forever, bitch. You are literally trapped here with me and your friends can't help you. You should just accept your fate right now!" He yelled.

As Cornelius lets out another evil laugh, Yukari quickly hides behind some wooden crates and sat down on the floor. She closes her eyes and grits her teeth as tears continue flowing down her cheeks. Never before had Yukari ever been so fearful for her life. She couldn't help but agree that Cornelius is right. She is trapped with him, and this time, Saber and her teammates aren't here to help her.

Despite lacking in agility and fighting skills, in every mission she had participated in, and even in the most dangerous situations, Yukari could always remain calm and brave knowing that she had her teammates by her side. They are the only things that have kept her strong and moving forward. Without them, she is nothing more than a defenseless woman who couldn't do anything to protect herself.

Now, it seems her worst fears have come true. Without the skills and will to fight like Saber and the others, there is nothing Yukari can do, but to let this psychotic man deliver the most atrocious fate that any helpless person could receive.

Yukari places her right hand over her mouth as she lowers her head and sobbed in despair. She couldn't help but feel a sense of hopelessness over the nightmarish situation she is currently in. The same sense of hopelessness she got when she quit her job at Shinjuku High, lost her connection with Itou and learning the true face behind Mr. Kodama. How she wish things wouldn't come to this. How she wish that this isn't how she want her life to end.

Yukari want nothing more but to be with the protective arms of Saber and her teammates right now. Maybe even back in her cramped apartment in Shinjuku. Or in a smaller but peaceful apartment in Inagi…with her mother…

* * *

_**3 Years Ago…** _

_**Inagi, Tokyo, Japan** _

As Yukari quietly kneels on a cushion in the living room, looking down at the tatami flooring with despondent eyes, an elderly woman with short grey hair and dressed in a grey apron with a white long-sleeved shirt and purple pants underneath slowly walks over to her while carrying a tray with a plate of omurice with cabbage and tomatoes on it.

"I'm sure you haven't eaten anything ever since you left Shinjuku, so I made your favorite dish." Her mother said. She carefully places the tray on the square table beside Yukari and walks over to her side. After kneeling down on another cushion, the elderly woman scoops up a piece of omelette and some rice and holds the spoon up to Yukari's face.

"Have something to eat, will you dear?" Her mother asked encouragingly. She couldn't get a response unfortunately as Yukari kept staring dully at the floor.

Her mother frowned worriedly as she places the spoon back onto the plate. "I know so many bad things have happened to you lately. But you can't-"

"I'm sorry, mother." Yukari murmured.

"What?" Her mother said, looking surprised to finally see a reaction from her daughter.

Yukari slowly turns to her mother and whimpered as tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, mother. On the day…I left for Shinjuku…I promised you…that I will help us restart our lives here in Tokyo…by going back to teaching…but here I am…back in your home…after losing my job…and the love of my life…I've failed you, mother…I've failed you!"

Yukari finished by wailing in despair as she wraps her arms around her mother and shed her tears onto her shoulder. Her mother sighed and she rests her chin on Yukari's shoulder and gently pats her back as she sobbed.

"There, there. It's alright, dear. Everything will be alright. As I was saying, I know many awful things have happened to you lately, but there is one thing that you can't do. You cannot give up." Her mother said.

Yukari pulls away from her mother and stares at her with red eyes. Her mother gave her a wan smile as she continued, "Remember when we were still in Itomori? Your father and I were so happy to have each other, and giving birth to you was the most happiest moment in our lives. Together, we raised you and watch you grow up to become the most beautiful woman we've ever seen."

"Things were so happy and peaceful for us back then, isn't it?" Yukari said softly as she wipes off the tears from her watery eyes.

"Indeed." Her mother nods her head in agreement as she strokes the side of her daughter's hair. "That is until one day, our lives took a hit when your father passed away after a long battle against cancer. We wept and mourned over his death. I was very heartbroken and devastated back then because I loved your father so much. But only two weeks later, I stopped crying and try to continue on with my life. And you know why?" Yukari stared at her mother questioningly. "Because I know even in death, your father wants me to remain happy and continue living. I miss your father, but I have to keep moving forward. Life is unpredictable, dear. Bad things happen to all of us in the most unexpected ways. And when they do happen, you just have to stay strong and positive to overcome them."

As Yukari continue staring wordlessly at her, her mother finished by smiling at her daughter and gently places her hand on her cheek. "I've done that for the sake of your father. Now, I want you to do the same for us."

* * *

Yukari finally managed to suppress her sobs when she vividly remembers what her mother told her years ago. She is right. Whenever life gets her down, she needs to find the strength to fight back and move forward again. Even if she feels alone, scared and helpless, she had to face her problems head-on. And no matter what happens, she had to stay strong and positive.

In fact, Yukari couldn't help but feel what her mother said to her sounded awfully similar to the words that a certain fearless blonde-haired woman had told her recently.

" _You are a strong and unpredictable woman. You have proven that to me over and over again. So why can't you do the same thing here?"_

Yukari narrows her eyes and wipes off the tears from her eyes. Saber is right. Is this really how she wants her life to end? Is she really going to let this sick and twisted man kill her? Does she really have nothing left to live for? Is she really just going to let herself die as a helpless and pathetic person with no one to care for her?

No.

Yukari removes her hand from her bleeding shoulder, gets up from the floor and clenches her fists tightly. She is not going to run away from her problems again. Whether if it's Wataru, Mr. Kodama or that sick man in the red coat, she will not let anyone push her down anymore just for their own sick pleasure. For she is no longer a hopeless woman in a suit, she has become more than that ever since joining Saber and her team.

She is a mercenary.

"Mother…Boss…Arigatou." Yukari murmured.

"What the hell are you rambling about?"

Yukari turns her head and sees Cornelius standing right beside her. A huge grin appears on his face as he looks back at her. "Making a death wish, am I right? Don't worry." Cornelius lifts up his cane gun and aims it at her face. "You will die soon enough!"

As Cornelius laughed again, Yukari narrows her eyes at him as she remembered the lessons she had with Shirou during the breaks they had from their missions.  _'Remember what Shirou taught you!'_

As soon as Cornelius fired, Yukari moves to the side and deflects his gun with her arm. Cornelius barely had time to realize what just happen before Yukari delivers a swift punch to his gut. Cornelius gasped in pain and Yukari delivers a kick to his stomach. Cornelius backs away and looks up at Yukari with a snarl.

"You'll pay for that, you fucking bitch!" He growled with eyes of malice. Cornelius yells as he goes over to Yukari and continuously swings his cane horizontally at her. Yukari dodged every swing he made by backing away. When Cornelius made a diagonal swing with his cane, Yukari holds up her left hand and grabs his weapon firmly, much to his surprise.

Yukari proceeds to give another kick to his stomach, causing Cornelius to back away and loses his grip on his cane. After snatching it away from his hand, Yukari brings the cane down and lifts her leg up, slamming it on her kneecap and breaking it in half.

Cornelius gasped in shock and horror as Yukari tosses the two halves of his weapon aside.

"My cane! My beautiful weapon!" Cornelius cried with his eyes wide as he reaches out his hand. His look of sorrow and despair quickly turn into a ferocious snarl and he lets out a bellow of rage at Yukari, "YOU HAVE PISSED ME OFF FOR THE LAST TIME!"

Cornelius yells again as he charges at Yukari and swings his fist at her. Yukari dodges by turning to the side and throws her fist down onto his back. As Cornelius falls to the ground, Yukari turns to her right and sees a wheelbarrow nearby. She runs over to it as Cornelius lifts his head up.

"I won't let you run away!" Cornelius said as he manages to grab Yukari by the back of her left leg. Yukari almost stumbled over, but she manages to grab onto one of the handles of the wheelbarrow and pulls it over to her. As Cornelius tries to pull her down, Yukari managed to keep her balance as she turns around, holds the wheelbarrow over her head and throws it down onto him.

After the wheelbarrow slams onto the top of Cornelius' head, knocking him out and freeing her leg from his grip, Yukari hurriedly looks around the area for any more objects she could use. Her vision landed on a red tool trolley placed about twenty meters away the edge of the floor. In front of the trolley and lying on the floor was a metal chain with a hook at one end of it.

Yukari wastes no time in running over to the trolley and picking the chain up from the floor. As soon as she picks it up, Cornelius runs over to her and tackles her from behind. As they fall, Yukari's forehead slams onto the trolley, causing her to howl in pain. After landing on the floor, Yukari turns around, quickly wraps the chain around Cornelius' neck and tightens it. Cornelius chokes for air as Yukari continues coiling the chain around his neck. After making a few more coils, Yukari slides her hand through the chain until she finds herself holding onto the end of it in her hand. Yukari turns back to the trolley and gets up.

However, Cornelius grabs her by the back of her foot and pulls her back, causing her to fall over to the floor again and drop the chain. He growls as he quickly crawls on top of her and wraps his right arm around her neck. He pulls her up as they both get into a sitting position and Yukari gasps for breath as Cornelius wraps his other arm around her neck and tightens his grip around it.

"I'll make you die a slow and painful death, you fucking whore." Cornelius said coldly into her ear. Yukari struggles to breathe as she grabs onto one of Cornelius' arms and tries to pull it out but to no avail. She is just not strong enough to break herself free from his grip. She turns her head to her left and widens her eyes as she sees a half of Cornelius' cane lying near them. Yukari removes her left hand and reaches out to it. But Cornelius notices what she is trying to do. He quickly swings his left hand and swipes half of his cane away from them, preventing Yukari from grabbing it.

However, during that moment of distraction, Yukari inserts her left hand into her pocket and pulls out her M45 pistol. She swiftly holds the pistol up to Cornelius's left eye and fires a shot.

_**BANG!** _

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Cornelius lets out an agonizing shriek that echoed throughout the whole floor as a stream of blood squirts out from his left eye socket. He removes his arm around Yukari and falls onto the floor, placing his hands over his left eye and desperately tries to stop the bleeding.

As Cornelius continues screaming in pain while rolling on the floor side to side, Yukari took this opportunity to get up and pick the chain up from the floor. She runs over to the trolley and wraps the chain around its handle. When she is done, Yukari pushes the trolley and it began rolling itself towards the edge.

Yukari runs back to Cornelius who is still lying on the floor in excruciating pain. She picks up the hook at other end of the chain from the floor and Cornelius gasped painfully as she pulls him up by his neck. As Cornelius finds himself in a sitting position again, he looks up and sees Yukari staring boldly at him while holding up the hook in her hand.

"Go to hell." She muttered before swinging the hook down on top of his head. Shortly afterwards, the trolley falls over the edge and plummets down to the bottom of the building.

"Shit." That was all Cornelius could utter before his neck snapped as the chain around the trolley's handle brutally yanked him towards the edge. The man soon finds himself thrown out of the building and plummeting down to his death.

Yukari lets out a heavy sigh as she fell onto her knees. After taking a few deep breaths, Yukari slowly lifts her head up and looks back at the metal door. With all of the strength she still has inside her, Yukari gets herself up and runs over to the forklift. Despite trying to recover from the traumatic experience she just had, Yukari knew she can't afford to waste any time for she still has one more thing to do.

* * *

After inserting the forks through the bottom of the metal door, Yukari brought the forklift to a halt. As she pulls the lever down, the forks slowly pull the metal door open. After Yukari created an opening big enough for everyone to crouch under, Saber and her teammates go underneath the metal door and rush over to Yukari.

"Caster!" Illya cried as everyone go over to the side of the forklift.

"We were so worried about you!" Rin said in concern.

"Are you alright?" Ricky asked with a worried frown.

Yukari stops the forklift before getting out of the vehicle. Despite still feeling the pain from the wounds adorning her forehead and shoulder, Yukari gave a warm smile to her teammates. "I've never been better." She said to them. Ricky chuckled in response, feeling relieved to see his friend alive and well.

"What the hell happened to you?" Chulainn asked as Illya quickly gets out a plaster and a bandage roll from her backpack to apply them onto Yukari's wounds.

"And where's that man?" Sakura asked as she looked around the open area, but Cornelius was nowhere in sight.

"Taken care of." Yukari replied softly. Everyone gasped.

"No way." Shirou said incredulously.

"Seriously?" Mordred asked with her eyes wide.

"Yeah." Yukari simply said as Illya goes over to her side and carefully wraps the bandage around the wound on her right shoulder. She turns her head to see Saber walking up to her.

Saber took a hard gulp as tears brim in her eyes while staring back at Yukari. "I thought I've lost you." Saber said.

Yukari pursed her lips as her eyes are also filling up with tears. "You kept me alive…" She replied with her voice shaking.

As Saber made a gasp, she runs up to Yukari and wraps her arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. Yukari stared blankly into space while Saber whimpered as she rests her head on her shoulder and letting her tears flow down her cheeks like tiny rivers. A few moments later, Yukari closes her eyes and wraps her arms around Saber as well, silently spilling her tears into her shoulder.

The two women wept onto each other as they stayed in their embrace, not paying attention to Ricky, Mordred, Rin, Illya, Shirou, Chulainn and Sakura who are staring at them wordlessly.


	30. London, Part 4

Illya and Yukari sat next to each other on the stairs while Saber and the others have gone up to the upper floors. With Yukari injured and worn out from her fight with Cornelius, Saber ordered her to stay behind. Illya volunteers herself to accompany and take care of Yukari as the others continue on with their mission in stopping Gilgamesh.

"It's all up to them now." Illya said with her eyes softened.

"Indeed." Yukari said with the wound on her forehead now covered by an adhesive bandage. "But if there's anything I know about my teammates over the past year, you guys are the craziest but bravest group of people who can get any job done."

Illya giggled as she smiled at Yukari. "So are you." Yukari turns her head to Illya and smiled back at her.

* * *

Saber, Ricky, Chulainn, Shirou, Rin, Sakura and Mordred hurriedly run up the stairs, hoping that they are not too late in stopping Gilgamesh from launching the Grail missile. When they arrived at the 27th floor however, as soon as they turn a corner, everyone see Diarmuid standing in the middle of the small hallway, staring boldly at them while holding his gold and ruby red spears in his hands.

"Diarmuid…" Saber murmured as she narrows her eyes.

"It seems that Cornelius has failed his duty to stop you. But I was expecting it to happen. He was a fool anyway." Diarmuid said flatly. As he gets into his fighting stance, Saber and her team hold up their guns.

"You can try to stop us, Diarmuid. But no matter what, we will reach Gilgamesh and stop his plans in destroying this city." Saber said.

"Go ahead and shoot, for I have injected myself with the Od serum. So no matter how much you fire, I will not die so easily." Diarmuid said.

"We can't waste our time and ammunition on him." Ricky implied to Saber. Saber growls in response, knowing that her second-in-command is right. She had personally known Diarmuid. Not only does he have unwavering loyalty to Gilgamesh, he is a strong and agile fighter who has dealt with large groups of men at once. His agility to dodge bullets with ease and superb fighting skills with a single spear or two makes him a formidable opponent in the battlefield.

"Then I'll deal with him personally." Chulainn spoke up. Saber and the others turn to him in surprise.

"Lancer, are you sure?" Saber asked in concern. "You have no idea how capable Diarmuid truly is."

"Well, that makes things for me a whole lot more interesting." Chulainn smirked as he cracks his knuckles.

Saber sighs heavily as she frowns worriedly at Chulainn. Chulainn has done a lot of crazy things in the past, but she is afraid that of all the men he has ever fought, Diarmuid would be the one who will finally put him in his place. But if that is his decision, there's nothing Saber can do to stop him. And he is helping her and the others get past Diarmuid and reach Gilgamesh in time after all.

"Very well." Saber nodded. "But don't you dare die on us."

"I won't." Chulainn said casually as he winks an eye at her. As Saber and the others run past Diarmuid and continue climbing up the stairs, Chulainn turns to his opponent and stares boldly at him.

"Even if your friends have got past me, they won't be able to defeat Miriam and Gilgamesh." Diarmuid said.

"Don't even think of underestimating my friends, idiot." Chulainn replied.

"I must commend your will to fight against me. It's been a long time since I've fought in single combat." Diarmuid lowers his guard and tosses his ruby red spear at Chulainn, who catches it with his left hand.

Chulainn tilts his head to the side, motioning Diarmuid to enter the wide open area beside them. As the two kept their eyes on each other, they slowly walk their way to the center of the deserted floor.

"You're Irish, right? So am I. My name is Cu Chulainn." Chulainn introduced himself.

"I'm Diarmuid Ua Duibhne." Diarmuid replied as he bows his head to his opponent. The two men get into their fighting stances and stood still. "It saddens me to fight against a fellow Irishman. Despite how the people of this country have treated us, you still choose to fight for them. You have no honor."

"Piss off, will ya? What I'm doing has nothing to do with honor. It's all about doing what's right." Chulainn said. Diarmuid narrows his eyes at him. Both men yell as they charge towards each other and prepare to fight.

* * *

When they arrived at the 28th floor, Saber, Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Sakura and Mordred are quickly greeted by more of Miriam's drones. As the six kneel at the small hallway outside the open area, they fire their guns at the hundred drones that are flying towards them. And as the drones fire their turrets back at them, they see Miriam at the other end of the deserted floor, sitting behind her desk and typing her hands on two keyboards while gazing at multiple computer screens in front of her.

"Ahahahahahaha! Do you really think that with just the six of you, you can take down all of my drones?!" Miriam yelled at them with a wide grin plastered across her face and a few strands of hair dangling in front of her glasses. "Face it. With your small numbers, you cannot hope to take them all down!"

After shooting down a few drones, Sakura cried and drops her SMG as a few bullets shot through her shoulder and lower arms.

"Sakura!" Rin cried in alarm as she lowers her rifle. Shirou growls as he fires his sniper rifle at the drone that shot Sakura.

"Even with the serum inside me, my body can't keep resisting pain forever." Sakura muttered as Rin wraps an arm around her.

"The serum may make you faster and stronger, but it doesn't make you invincible." Shirou implied as he shoots down another drone while Sakura picks up her SMG.

"Saber, I'm sorry to say this but it's only up to you now to stop Gilgamesh." Ricky said to Saber while firing his shotgun at the drones.

"What?" Saber said incredulously.

"Saber, if we all fight together, we are only delaying ourselves in accomplishing our main goal. And we go with you; the drones will only follow us. So just leave the rest of us here while you go after Gilgamesh's ass!" Ricky yelled at her.

"I'm sorry Arturia, but your partner is right." Mordred said as Saber turned to her. Mordred gave her a smirk. "You can count on us."

Saber sighs heavily before turning back to Ricky. "Alright. But please don't die!" She cried.

Suddenly, much to her surprise, Ricky grabs Saber by her collar. As he pulls her over, Ricky plants his lips into hers. For a moment, Saber stares back at him in surprise before she closes her eyes and finds herself kissing him back. The two soon pull themselves away from each other and Ricky flashes a smirk at her.

"You talk too much, you know that?" Ricky said. Saber chuckled in response.

"Don't worry, Saber. I'll make sure no one dies here today. I promise you that I will protect everyone in the battlefield, right?" Shirou said to her smiling.

Saber smiled back at Shirou as she nods her head. She turns back to Ricky and gave a quick pat on his shoulder. "Thank you." She said before she ran off and continues climbing up the stairs.

"Can't you two get a better place to do that?" Rin asked as she and Sakura continue firing their guns at the drones.

Ricky laughed before holding up his shotgun again. "Now then, that old bitch at the end of the room is the master controller of these damn drones. Let's get over there and take her out!" He yelled.

"Right!" Shirou, Rin, Sakura and Mordred all said in unison. They yell as they charge into the open area to continue firing their guns at the drones and going after Miriam.

* * *

Chulainn groans as he finds himself slamming against a pillar on his back. As he looks up, he sees Diarmuid charging towards him and lunges his spear at him. Chulainn quickly turns to the side and Diarmuid thrusts his spear into the pillar instead.

As Chulainn turns around and tries to swing his spear at his opponent, Diarmuid quickly turned and kicks him in the gut, causing him to back away. Diarmuid removes his spear from the pillar and thrusts his weapon at Chulainn again.

Chulainn quickly swings his spear to deflect Diarmuid's weapon. Diarmuid proceeds to continuously thrusting his spear forward at Chulainn, who backs away and deflects every strike he made with his own spear.

Suddenly, Diarmuid holds his spear up and delivers an overhead strike at Chulainn. Chulainn dodges it by turning to his left, but this allows Diarmuid to go forward and jab his right elbow against his opponent's gut. Chulainn groans as he backs away and as Diarmuid turns, he delivers a diagonal strike at him, leaving a cut at his abdomen.

Chulainn howls in pain for a moment before he looks back up and thrusts his spear at Diarmuid. Diarmuid yells as Chulainn's spear sinks into his right shoulder. He swiftly grabs Chulainn's spear and lifts his leg up, kicking Chulainn in the stomach with his boot and sending him falling to the floor. Diarmuid removes the spear from his shoulder and tosses it back to Chulainn. As the spear landed beside him, Chulainn growls at Diarmuid as he lifts his head up from the floor.

"Is that really the best you can do?" Diarmuid asked flatly as the wound on his shoulder quickly heals itself up. "I guess siding yourself with the people of this country have weakened you."

"Shut the fuck up." Chulainn muttered as he grabs his spear. He gets up and thrusts his spear at Diarmuid, who quickly blocks the attack. Diarmuid swings his spear horizontally, landing another gash across his abdomen. Chulainn yells in pain before Diarmuid delivers another massive kick to the wounds on his abdomen and sending him sliding through the floor again.

"You have a great amount of valor, but you are lacking in strength and mind." Diarmuid remarked.

Chulainn yells in rage as he quickly gets back up and delivers a few forward strikes with his spear. Diarmuid blocks all of his attacks, but suddenly, Chulainn suddenly lowers his spear and swings it diagonally, successfully landing a strike at the right side of his waist.

Diarmuid groans in pain as he turns to the side. As he turns his head to Chulainn, his opponent delivers an overhead strike at him. Diarmuid holds his spear up and blocks the attack with its shaft. He throws a swift punch with his left fist at Chulainn's chest, causing him to back away. Diarmuid turns his body and thrusts his spear again, slashing across Chulainn's left upper arm. As Chulainn winced in pain, Diarmuid gets up and punches Chulainn across his right cheek with his left fist. Chulainn yells as he fell to the floor once again. Diarmuid stares boldly at his fallen opponent as he stood still.

"Surely, you must be questioning yourself right now, is it truly worth turning your back on your homeland and side with these cruel people?" Diarmuid questioned Chulainn as he tightly clenches onto his spear. "Why defend these people when they have only shown hatred, harm and bias towards us? We worked for them, built their cities, fight in their wars, and yet they still treat us like sheep. And that's what you are. Not just to them, but to us too. You are a disgrace to our people."

Chulainn breathes heavily as he lies on the floor in pain. As he contemplates what Diarmuid had said, he closes his eyes as he remembers a moment he had in Bolton. It was days of pain and hardship, but at the same time, comfort and warmth.

* * *

_**3 Years Ago…** _

_**Bolton, United Kingdom, England** _

Chulainn finds himself collapsing on his face after receiving a powerful punch across his face. As he shifts his eyes up, he sees the spectators hooting and yelling rambunctiously behind the metal fence.

"Come on, asshole! Get your ass back up! Or are you ready to give up like the fucking pussy you are?!" One of the spectators in front of him shouted. Chulainn grits his teeth and clenches his fists tightly. He quickly gets up from the floor, causing the spectators to cheer louder.

Chulainn wipes off the blood from his lips before turning around to face his opponent, a bald and muscular man who is several inches taller than him. The opponent tilts his head side to side before he and Chulainn get back into their fighting stances.

The bald man swings his right fist horizontally at Chulainn. This time, Chulainn dodges it by ducking down and he throws a punch to the right side of the bald man's gut. The bald man groans before swinging his left fist at Chulainn. Chulainn dodges his attack again by ducking down and punching his left thigh. This causes the bald man to fall on left knee in pain. While he is down, Chulainn proceeds to throw several punches to the left side of the bald man's head. He finishes it by lifting his knee up and kicking his opponent at the bottom of his jaw.

"That's right! Kick his fucking ass!" One spectator shouted as everyone standing around the cage continues cheering.

The bald man spits his blood out before getting back up and faces Chulainn again. Chulainn swings his right fist, but the bald man deflects it. He punches Chulainn across his left cheek, causing him to twirl around and slams his back against the metal fence.

"Come on asshole! Get back into the fight!" Another spectator yelled as Chulainn took a few heavy breaths. He yells angrily as he quickly recovers from the blow and charges at his opponent.

The bald man tries to swings his left fist, but before it could make contact with his face, Chulainn grabs him by his throat. The bald man gasped for air as Chulainn delivers an uppercut to his abdomen. As the bald man falls down on his knee again, Chulainn swings his right fist and punches him across his left cheek. As the bald man gets up and swings his left fist again, Chulainn backs away and after doing a twirl, he kicks the back of the bald man's left leg. As the bald man falls on his knees, Chulainn climbs up on his back and wraps his legs around his neck. Chulainn throws several punches to the right side of his head before he finishes him off by throwing both of his fists downwards like a sledgehammer. He slams his fists onto the top of his forehead, causing the bald man to wobble about drunkenly before he rolls his eyes back and toppled over to the floor.

The spectators cheered and hooted as Chulainn gets off of his opponent and pumps his fists up into the air triumphantly with a large smile on his face.

* * *

Chulainn steps out of the changing room with a towel wrapped around his neck after wearing back into his normal clothes. He steps back into the main area of the night club which the cheering and shouting have since died down and all the patrons have went back to their tables to gamble or have their drinks or head back to the pool tables to play billiards.

Still feeling the pain and exhaustion he had from the fight, Chulainn heads over to the bar counter and take a seat. He slouches forward as he rests his arms and head on the counter.

"Need something?" The bartender asked him as she approached.

"Just a cup of beer and maybe something to eat." Chulainn replied wearily.

"What do you like to eat?" She asked.

"Maybe fish and chips." Chulainn shrugged.

"Okay, coming right up."

As she turns around and head over to the open window, Chulainn lifts his head up to have a good look at the bartender who is attending to him. Her magenta hair is short and she wore a dark red, two-piece suit with a red-violet necktie.

"Fish and chips please." The woman called out to the people working behind the window.

"Got it." One of the chefs replied. The woman turns around and walks back to the counter. Chulainn could see that the woman has magenta eyes and a mole below her left eye. She kneels down for a moment to grab an empty glass from the bottom of the counter. She stood up and places the glass underneath the dispenser, filling it up with beer. She places the cup in front of Chulainn and smiled at him.

"Enjoy." She said to him. Chulainn grabs the cup as he sits up straight and takes a sip of his beer. The woman places her hands at the sides of her hip. "I watched your fight earlier. You fought really well."

"Thanks." Chulainn said as he places his cup down.

"My name is Bazett. What's yours?" The woman asked.

"Cu Chulainn." He replied to her.

"Cu Chulainn…that's Irish, isn't it?" Bazett asked as she cups her chin. Chulainn nods his head. "What's an Irishman doing all the way here in Bolton?"

"Got a problem with me being here?" Chulainn glares at her in annoyance.

"Oh don't mistake me. I welcome everyone here in this bar. We are all human after all, are we?" Bazett asked with a warm smile as she places her hands on the counter.

Chulainn snorted. "I wish everyone in this country thinks the same as you."

"You're right. There will always be good and bad people around us. But that's just human nature, right?" Bazett shrugged.

"Sometimes I wish the people who look down on me can realize how much I've worked my ass off to find a place in this country. But no matter how much they kick my ass, I just gotta stay strong and tough. Because showing weakness to them is exactly what they want me to do." Chulainn muttered. Bazett sighed inwardly as she watched him take another sip of his beer.

"And I wish I could be just like you." Bazett said. Chulainn puts down his beer again and looked at her questioningly.

"What's wrong?" Chulainn asked in concern.

"Well…" Bazett strokes her hair. "I grew up in a terrible lifestyle. My parents are constantly fighting each other and yelling at me, just to release their anger and satisfy themselves. I grew scared of going home every night, and I am too afraid to tell my parents how I feel, knowing that no matter what I say, they would only yell back at me. Because they were so verbally abusive towards me, it began to bleed into my personal life. I couldn't concentrate well on my studies anymore that I dropped out of college. I managed to move out of the house, thank fuck, but thinking about them still gives me nightmares."

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that." Chulainn said.

"It's alright." Bazett replied before she heard the bell ring. She turns around to see Chulainn's fish and chips placed at the window.

"Fish and chips." The chef said before walking off. Bazett walks over to the window to collect the food. She returns back to Chulainn and places the food in front of him.

"Here you go." Bazett said. Chulainn stares at his food and resisted the urge to wince. He couldn't believe how greasy the food he ordered is. He could even see the oil oozing out from the bottom of the fried fish. When he looks back at Bazett however, he could still see the kind and warm smile plastered across her face, as if she is encouraging him to eat. Despite knowing how oily and terrible his dinner is, Chulainn kept his composure, not wanting to disappoint the woman who had kindly provided him his food tonight.

He proceeds to pick up his fork and knife and began eating his food. As Chulainn ate his fish and chips, Bazett couldn't help but chuckle.

"You know our food here is never the best, right?" Bazett asked with a small grin.

After swallowing his food, Chulainn looks up at her and replied, "It's better than nothing, right? Besides, I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Thank you." Bazett said. "Because you fought so well tonight and your food probably tastes like shit, your food and drink is on me tonight. How about it?"

"Really? You'll do that for me?" Chulainn asked incredulously. Bazett nods her head. A wide smile appears on his face. "Thank you so much."

Bazett shakes her head. "Don't thank me. Thank God. He's the one who wants us to live."

Chulainn pursed his lips for a moment before speaking, "Bazett, you really seem like a kind person. You didn't deserve the rough lifestyle you had."

"Same to you." Bazett smiled. "I hope whatever shit still awaits you in the future, don't stop fighting."

Chulainn smirked at her. "You too."

* * *

Chulainn opens his eyes and gasps. He lifts his head up and sees Diarmuid standing above him and giving him a cold glare.

"Do you still wish to stay down? You truly aren't a worthy opponent." Diarmuid said disappointingly. He holds up his spear and brings it down at Chulainn's chest.

Suddenly, Chulainn rolls to the side and Diarmuid finds himself thrusting his spear into the floor instead, much to his surprise. As Chulainn gets up from the floor, he throws his right fist at Diarmuid's left cheek. Diarmuid's eyes nearly bulge out as Chulainn punches him across his face, sending him stumbling. As Diarmuid turns back to Chulainn and regains his balance, he sees his opponent pulling his golden spear out from the floor before picking up his ruby red spear.

"En garde." Chulainn said, tossing the golden spear back to Diarmuid. Diarmuid catches his spear and grits his teeth.

"Good. That's more like it." Diarmuid remarked before he and Chulainn get into their fighting stances.

"I don't give a fuck what you think of this country and its people. I admit I didn't like how most people treated me when I first set foot here too." Chulainn narrows his eyes and grits his teeth before he bellowed at Diarmuid, "But that doesn't mean there isn't a single innocent soul in this country who doesn't deserve death!"

"Then you are a lost cause!" Diarmuid snapped. He yells as he charges at Chulainn and lunges his spear at him.

To his surprise, Chulainn moves to the side and swings his spear horizontally at his midsection. Diarmuid yells as his opponent lands a slash across his abdomen, causing him to fall on a knee. As Chulainn backs away from him, Diarmuid gets up, turns back to his opponent and gets into his fighting stance again.

"As long as this place still has a single person who has shown you kindness and has been through hell just like you, I will never let scum like you destroy this country!" Chulainn shouts at his opponent.

Diarmuid yells as he charges at Chulainn again and continuously swings his diagonally at him. Chulainn blocks all of his attacks as he backs away. When Diarmuid delivers one more diagonal strike with his spear, Chulainn deflects it, ducks down and swings his spear horizontally, leaving a slash across Diarmuid's right lower leg.

Diarmuid howls as he falls on his right knee. Chulainn goes over and uses the bottom of his spear to continuously hit his opponent at the side of his head. Diarmuid later gets up and swings his spear diagonally at Chulainn, who dodges it by moving to the side. Chulainn thrusts the bottom of his spear at Diarmuid's gut, sending him stumbling backwards.

Diarmuid growls as he looks back up at Chulainn. He gets into his fighting stance again and aims his spear at his opponent.

"I will not let a traitor like you best me!" Diarmuid shouted at him. Chulainn calmly gets into his fighting stance and aims the tip of his spear at him as well. Diarmuid grits his teeth and yelled, "FOR MY HOMELAND!"

Both men yell as they charge towards each other, preparing to deliver their final attack. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as they lunge their spears at each other. When they made contact, blood was spilled onto the floor.

Diarmuid and Chulainn stare into each other's eyes as they stood close to each other. There was a tense moment of silence between the two. Suddenly, Diarmuid could feel blood gurgling in his throat. As he gasped in pain, blood pours out of his mouth. He lowers to his head to see that his spear only managed to slash across Chulainn's left shoulder. But Chulainn's spear on the other hand was stabbed through where his heart is and its tip is sticking out from his back.

"I've…lost…" Diarmuid uttered. After he drops his spear, Chulainn withdrew his own spear from Diarmuid and backs away. Diarmuid swayed for a moment before collapsing on his knees. His head is lowered and his arms are hanging limply at his sides. Despite being injected with the Od serum, it couldn't heal up the hole that Chulainn had left through his heart.

"You are the one who have disgraced our people." Chulainn said coldly to his opponent before tossing his ruby red spear and it landed on the floor in front of Diarmuid. "I can sympathize with you for experiencing the same level of pain and hardship as me…but killing the people who aren't involved in your problems doesn't justify what you went through."

Diarmuid sighs heavily in response. "Unlike me…you're…strong…" Those were his last words before Diarmuid fell to the side and lies on the floor dead. Chulainn lets out a heavy sigh before walking over to his lifeless body. He kneels down and closes Diarmuid's eyelids.

Chulainn stood up and look out at the city skyline. A smile takes form on his face as he felt the wind blowing through his clothes and hair.

"Thank you…Bazett…"

* * *

As he sat on the seat, the gunner slowly turns the missile launcher until he gets a clear view of the Canary Wharf through its scope.

"Aiming at our target, sir." The gunner turns his head around to Gilgamesh. Two other mercenaries armed with rifles stood behind him.

"Do it." Gilgamesh ordered. The gunner nods his head and turns back to the scope.

Suddenly, a bullet was fired and it shot through the back of the gunner's head. Gilgamesh and his men widen their eyes in surprise. As soon as they turn around, Saber fires her Glocks and shoots down the two mercenaries. After his men fell to the floor, Gilgamesh looks up at Saber as she aims her Glocks at him. A huge grin takes form on his face as he gazes at her.

"Yes!" He exclaimed with satisfaction.

"Gilgamesh…" Saber muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final battle is nearing its end. Stay tune and prepare for the finale...


	31. London, Part 5

"That's it! That's the sweetie pie I know! Bold! Fearless! Resilient!" Gilgamesh shouted with an overwhelming amount of joy and contentment as he spreads out his arms. "Do it! Shoot me like you mean it!"

Saber stares boldly at Gilgamesh for a few moments before lowering her Glocks and tossing them aside. Gilgamesh's grin instantly disappears and his face distorts into a scowl.

"Repulsive." He muttered, lowering his arms.

"I'm not like you, Gilgamesh. Not anymore." Saber said flatly.

Gilgamesh snorted as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. "Saber, Saber, Saber baby…you really have disappointed me." He said. "I took you in when society kept weighing you down. I raised you, trained you, make you the ultimate fighter…and at the end of the day, this is how you repay me."

"I joined you because I hated every kind of criminal in this world. Every brute, every sadist, every murderer, every terrorist, every corrupt politician and every shitty parent who doesn't deserve children." Saber said coldly. "But after a while, I finally found what I hate even more. People who think the only solution to rid all evil in this world, is to destroy entire cities while good and innocent civilians are still inside them."

Gilgamesh snorted. "Sacrifices have to be made. You of all people should know that. Tell me, you think the people who fight for the Justice system, work at their cubicles in their offices, make your coffee at your local Starbucks, and clean the city streets everyday will always stay good?" He shakes his head. "No. I'm sure at some point; they too will become bad just like the criminals that are infecting this city now as we speak."

"What is your point?" Saber narrows her eyes.

"My point is…crime is an idea…like an infectious virus that cannot be fully cured. The actions of a single criminal can influence millions of civilians, and they too would eventually resort to committing crimes in the future. Nobody can stay good forever. That is why I'm going to launch this missile and prevent, shall I say, pre-crime."

Saber couldn't help but laugh. "You think nobody can stay good forever? Then you are actually more pathetic than I thought. Sure there will be some people who will eventually do bad things, but that's because they made the wrong choices. Through my time with my new teammates, I realize that criminals are still similar to civilians and policemen. We all have something that motivates us to do what we do. And along the way, we all have choices to make. Only you can decide for yourself what's good and what's bad for everyone. And if you do something bad, swallow your pride and let society, even your own friends and family, teach you a lesson. You need to realize what's right. And if thinking nobody can stay good forever is your way of seeing people around you, then I regret ever associating myself with you."

"And I regret ever taking you in." Gilgamesh said, gritting his teeth and narrowing his eyes in rage. Shortly after taking off his hands from his pockets, Gilgamesh removes his jacket and throws it aside, leaving only in his white shirt, black pants and black shoes. "I'm going to kill you, Arturia Pendragon, just like every motherfucker in this diseased world."

"Go ahead and try." Saber said flatly. She unbuttons her collar and removes her tie. After throwing it aside, Saber proceeds to remove her suit. She throws it aside, leaving her only dressed in her black vest, black long-sleeved shirt, black pants and black shoes. "At the end of the day, only one of us will remain standing."

"I totally agree with that." Gilgamesh said. The two stare boldly at each other for a moment, waiting for either one of them to make the first move. Eventually, both of them yell as they charge towards each other at the same time. They hold up their arms and slam against each other. Both Saber and Gilgamesh gaze into each other's eyes as they stayed in a stalemate, trying to overpower the other with their own strength.

"GILGAMESH!" Saber shouted.

"SABER!" Gilgamesh bellowed.

* * *

Ricky, Mordred, Rin, Shirou and Sakura grew more tired as they continue firing their guns at drones and dodging their turrets. By now, they have taken down thirty of them. But the remaining seventy drones continue flying around them like mosquitoes ready to strike their prey. Miriam laughed evilly as she watched her tired enemies.

"Like I said! It's useless to keep fighting with just the five of you. It's time for you to accept your defeat!" Miriam said with a diabolical smile.

Rin and Shirou both sigh as they rest their backs against each other. They turn their heads to each other as they breathed heavily.

"Archer…do you have any regrets?" Rin asked wearily.

Shirou smiled at her and shakes his head. "Not at all. At least I will have the honor fighting alongside with my friends to the very end."

Rin sadly lowers her head. "I wish you could at least cook your chilled ochazuke for us one last time before we go out together." She said.

"Me too." Shirou replied. Rin chuckled before they turn back to Miriam, hold up their guns and prepare to fire back at the drones.

"I rather die for this city than giving up like a coward." Mordred muttered and she holds up her shotgun.

"So do I. I'm done running away." Ricky said in agreement, holding up his shotgun as well.

"I will not leave my sister. Never again." Sakura said as she holds up her SMG.

"Thank you, Sakura." Rin said to Sakura as her eyes softened. "I love you."

"I love you too." Sakura replied to her with a tender smile.

"So be it." Miriam smirked. She types on her keyboards again and the drones prepare to fire. Ricky, Mordred, Rin, Shirou and Sakura aim their guns at them as they prepare to defend themselves.

But just before the drones could fire, they were suddenly caught by a rain of bullets coming from the stairway. Ricky, Mordred, Rin, Shirou and Sakura turn around to see Illya firing her minigun at the drones, laughing maniacally as she does. Standing beside her was Yukari who is also firing her M45 pistol at the drones.

"No!" Miriam cried in horror as she watches her drones being taken down.

"Need assistance from me as always?" Yukari asked her teammates as she fires her pistol.

"What will we ever do without you?" Rin replied with a smirk.

"Come on guys! Fire back!" Ricky ordered his teammates as he and Mordred began firing their shotguns at the drones. Miriam snarled at them with her eyes wide as she frantically types on her keyboards again.

As the drones fire their turrets at them, Rin and Sakura shoot back at them with their guns. After shooting down the few drones that are in front of them, six more drones fly over and surround the two women, preparing to fire at them.

"Duck." Rin said to Sakura. As Sakura gets down, Rin pulls out her M1911 pistol. As she spreads out her arms and turns around in a circle, she fires both her pistol and rifle and shoots down all of the drones around her and Sakura, sending them crashing onto the floor.

As he kneels down, Shirou aims his sniper rifle at Miriam's computers. As soon as he fired, a drone flies down to the line of fire and exploded. Shirou cursed under his breath. Every time he tries to fire a shot at Miriam's computers, she would command a drone to fly down and sacrifice itself to protect them. He places his finger on his earpiece and spoke to his teammates, "Everyone! I'm going straight towards Miriam! Give me cover!"

" _Aye!"_  Ricky replied.

" _You got it!"_  Rin said.

" _Ja!"_  Illya said.

" _Understood."_  Yukari responded.

Shirou gets up from the floor and made a mad dash towards Miriam. Miriam growls as she notices Shirou going straight towards her on one of her computer monitors. She types on her keyboards and commands ten of her drones to fly over to him. When the drones fire their turrets at him, Shirou rolls over to the side. Illya fires her minigun at the drones and shoots them all down. Shirou quickly gets back up and runs over to Miriam again.

When his shotgun runs out of bullets, Ricky tosses it aside and pulls out his revolver. As he sees four more drones flying towards Shirou, Ricky aims his revolver at them and fires four rounds at them within a second. The drones fall and crash onto the floor. Shirou jumps over the debris and continue making his way to Miriam.

As Miriam's eyes widened when she sees Shirou getting closer towards her, she commands the five drones that are attacking Mordred to fly over to Shirou. While lowering her shotgun, Mordred watched questioningly as the drones turn around and leave. When she notices the drones are flying over to Shirou from behind, Mordred shouted at him, "Look out!"

Shirou turns his head around and sees the drones about to fire at him from behind. After noticing this, Rin and Sakura dash their way over to Shirou.

As the drones fire, Shirou stops and rolls over to the side again to dodge the bullets. As they go closer, Sakura pulls out a knife from her belt, leaps into the air and brings it down at one of the drones.

The four remaining drones whirl about and fire at Rin who gets down and slides through the floor, dodging the bullets in the process. She gets back up in a kneeling position when she places herself behind Shirou and fires her rifle at the four drones. She manages to shoot three of them down, but the final drone flew to the side and fires at Rin.

"Rider!" Shirou shouted as he whirls about and pushes her out of the way before the bullets could land on them. Suddenly, a shot was fired and the drone crashes onto the floor. Shirou looks up to see Yukari in the distance, holding up her pistol and with her right eyelid closed. She smiles back at Shirou as she lowers her pistol. "Eagle eye." He said with a smirk.

"Archer?"

Shirou looks down to see Rin lying on the floor below him, making him realize that he is literally above her. The two momentarily stared at each other in awkward silence before they burst out laughing.

The two quickly get up and turn back to Miriam at her desk. "Let's finish this." Rin said to Shirou.

"Right!" Shirou replied and they dash their way over to her.

"FINISH THEM OFF!" Miriam shouted as she frantically types on her keyboards again and commands all of her remaining drones to fly over to Shirou and Rin.

Before her drones could catch up to them, Shirou and Rin reach her desk and pushes her computer monitors out of the way as they climb up. Miriam yelps as she slides away from them on her office chair. She swiftly draws out her pistols from both of her pockets and aim at Shirou and Rin.

"DIE!" Miriam cried and she fires her pistols. Shirou and Rin both quickly dodge the bullets by turning to the side. As they do so, Miriam widens her eyes in surprise and horror as she sees Chulainn running over to her desk with Diarmuid's ruby red spear in his left hand and a combat knife in the other.

Chulainn yells as he climbs up the desk and swings the spear down onto Miriam's right shoulder. Miriam screams in pain as she falls off from her office chair and Chulainn pins her down on the floor with the spear. He turns around and swings his combat knife down on the wire of the electrical socket which the plugs to the CPUs were inserted onto. As soon as he cuts the wire, all the drones are disabled and they crash onto the floor.

Chulainn turns back to Miriam, who gazes at him in sheer terror as she lies on the floor helplessly with the spear still stabbed through her shoulder. Shirou and Rin walk up to her sides and aim their guns at her face.

"It's over." Chulainn said to Miriam.

Shirou chuckled. "All that intelligence…wasted."

* * *

Saber and Gilgamesh breathe heavily as they gaze at each other while standing a few meters apart. Both of them have bruises covered over their faces, arms and hands. But they are still standing and neither has the intention to give up yet.

Both of them yell as they charge at each other again. Gilgamesh manages to swing his right fist and punches across Saber's left cheek. He quickly delivers an uppercut to her gut, then punches across Saber's right cheek with his left fist and finally grabs her head and brings it down, slamming her forehead against his right kneecap as he lifts it up.

Saber wobbles for a moment as she backs away. She notices Gilgamesh charging towards her, ready to deliver another punch to her face. This time, Saber dodges his attack by moving to the side. As she turns back to Gilgamesh and goes around him, she throws two powerful punches to the back of his head.

Gilgamesh growls as he turns around and swings his right fist at her. Saber ducks down to dodge his attack. She throws a swift punch at his abdomen, causing Gilgamesh to gasp in pain. As he bends forward, Saber gets up and swings her leg diagonally, kicking him across his left cheek. After backing away from her for a moment, Gilgamesh turns back to Saber and swings his left fist at her. Saber blocks his punch by holding her right forearm up. Both of them wince in pain as Gilgamesh felt a sharp pain in his fingers after his fist collided against Saber's forearm which felt like he just punched against concrete wall. And although Saber manages to withstand his attack, she could still feel the impact of Gilgamesh's punch with her forearm.

Saber looks back at Gilgamesh and quickly delivers an uppercut to the bottom of his jaw with her left fist. Gilgamesh steps away from Saber for a moment before he looks back at her and swings his leg diagonally, kicking her at the left side of her hip. Saber groans in pain and Gilgamesh swings his left fist, punching her across her right cheek. Before she could back away from him, Gilgamesh turns her around, grabs her by the hair on the back of her head and he made a mad dash towards the nearest pillar while pushing Saber with him.

"Go to hell, bitch!" Gilgamesh roared as he prepares to smash Saber's face against the pillar. However, when they go near it, Saber quickly brings her leg up and steps against the pillar. She runs up the pillar and did a backwards somersault, causing Gilgamesh to release her hair. As soon as she lands on her feet, Saber yells as she lunges her hand at the back of Gilgamesh's head and smashes him against the pillar. After grabbing onto his hair, Saber proceeds to pull back and slam his head against the pillar a few times. When she delivers the final blow, she releases him and moves to the side while Gilgamesh falls onto the floor on his back.

Gilgamesh breathes heavily before slowly getting back up and wipes off the blood from the right side of his mouth. "Not bad at all. Just as I expected…from my sweetie pie." He commented. "But I'm NOT DONE YET!"

Gilgamesh charges at Saber once more and throws a few punches at her. Saber managed to deflect his attacks with her arms, but Gilgamesh swiftly grabs her by the collar. He punches her across her left cheek, causing her to turn around as he releases her collar. He grabs her by the back of her vest and tosses her over his shoulder. He slams her onto the floor on her face and Saber groans in pain. She struggles to get up and suddenly, Gilgamesh runs up to her and kicks her across her face.

"I'm not going to lose!" Gilgamesh yelled as he turns around and brings his foot down on Saber's back. Saber rolls over the floor to dodge his attack and Gilgamesh ends up slamming his foot on the floor instead.

"Neither do I!" Saber yelled back as she quickly gets back up and throws her right fist at Gilgamesh. She successfully punches him on his chest, causing him to howl in pain as he backs away.

Gilgamesh looks back up and sees Saber swinging her leg diagonally. He grabs her leg and tosses her aside. Saber rolls over the floor and gets back up. She turns around to see Gilgamesh running up to her, jumps up and delivers a side kick to her chest. Saber gasped as she sent sliding back through the floor.

She turns her head and finds herself lying beside the missile launcher. Saber quickly gets up as Gilgamesh runs up to her. The two proceed to throw their punches at each other and they both deflect each other's attacks with their arms. But Saber manages to land a punch across Gilgamesh's left cheek. She grabs him by his head and slams his forehead against the seat of the missile launcher. Gilgamesh jabs his right elbow into Saber's gut, causing her to let go. He turns to the side, grabs Saber by her collar and slams her back against the missile launcher.

Gilgamesh punches her face a few times before Saber holds her hand up and grabs his wrist during a mid-punch. She gave Gilgamesh's arm a hard twist, causing him to yell as he felt a sharp pain. Saber throws herself over to Gilgamesh and slams her forehead onto his nose.

Gilgamesh backs away as blood began to trickle down from his nostrils. Saber goes over and punches him across his face twice before she bends over and charges at Gilgamesh, slamming her head into his gut. She pushes him all the way to a pillar and Gilgamesh groans as his back slams against it.

Saber gets up and places her left hand firmly onto Gilgamesh's right shoulder, pinning him against the pillar. As Gilgamesh looks up at her, Saber punches him across his left cheek with her right fist. Then, she lifts her right leg up and kicks Gilgamesh with her knee at the left side of his torso.

Gilgamesh growls as he throws his right fist at Saber. To his surprise, Saber backs away to dodge his attack. Saber yells as she delivers a roundhouse kick to the bottom of Gilgamesh's jaw, causing him to throw his head back and slam against the pillar.

Saber grabs Gilgamesh by his collar, turns around and tosses him. Gilgamesh wobbled for a moment before he looks up and sees Saber charging towards him and pulling her right fist back.

"GILGAMESH!" Saber shouted in uncontrollable rage and anger as she delivers her most powerful punch yet. Her fist collided against Gilgamesh's chest and the man yells in pain as she sends him sprawling through the floor.

Saber breathes heavily as she lowers her head and let her arms hang limply at her sides. There was a moment of silence between the two, until Gilgamesh groans as he slowly gets himself up from the floor. Saber looks back up as Gilgamesh gets up to his feet.

"No matter…how hard you try…I'll always…KEEP COMING BACK!" Gilgamesh bellowed as he charges at Saber again.

"SABER!"

Saber turns her head and sees Mordred and Ricky running over. They toss her Glocks over to her and Saber catches them. She swiftly turns back to Gilgamesh and fires one of her Glocks, shooting a bullet through his right thigh.

Gilgamesh screams in pain as he stops mid-run and falls on his left knee. Saber fires her other Glock and shoots a bullet through his left shoulder, causing Gilgamesh to cry in pain again. Saber puts her Glocks into her pockets as she runs up to Gilgamesh. She yells angrily again as she delivers an uppercut to the bottom of Gilgamesh's jaw, sending him falling onto the floor on his back.

"Saber!" Saber turns her head to see Ricky tossing Sakura's knife belt to her.

Saber grabs the belt and pulls out a knife. She goes up to Gilgamesh and swings the knife down on the side of Gilgamesh's left thigh. He screams in agony as the knife sinks through his leg and stabs into the floor below it. She pulls out another knife and swings it down onto his left hand, causing Gilgamesh to scream again as it stabs through his hand and pinning it onto the floor.

Saber pulls out the third and final knife and tosses the belt aside. She kneels above Gilgamesh and prepares to swing the knife down at his right hand. Gilgamesh lifts his remaining hand up and grabs Saber's right wrist. Gilgamesh and Saber push against each other, both trying to overpower the other. Suddenly, Saber swings her left fist and gave a few hard punches across Gilgamesh's right cheek. After delivering one final punch at the side of his nose, Gilgamesh finally releases Saber and drops his right arm to the side. Saber proceeds to stab the knife through his right hand, causing him to let out another agonizing scream.

Saber lets out a sigh before standing up and pulling out one of her Glocks. Mordred gasped in shock. She holds up her shotgun to stop Saber, but Ricky places his hand on her gun and lowers it. Mordred turns to Ricky who shakes his head at her. Ricky and Mordred look back at Saber, the latter staring at her in concern.

Gilgamesh looks up and sees Saber standing above him. She gave him a cold and dark glare as she aims her Glock at his forehead. A small grin takes form on Gilgamesh's face.

"It seems…the student has finally outgrown her master." Gilgamesh said weakly. "Do it. Kill me. Shoot me in the head. It is your mission to stop me, isn't it?"

Saber continues gazing down at her fallen opponent with her eyes narrowed. Gilgamesh is right. It is her mission to stop him. But should she end her mission by killing him? He probably deserves death, as he has killed countless people before, including Rin's father. And now he and his men have brought chaos and destruction to the city of London which resulted in the death of her partner and friend, Kairi Sisigou.

But if she does kill him, everything she had gone through for the last year would be for nothing. Learning that killing criminals is never the right way, getting revenge would only lead to more suffering, finding a new family with her teammates…it would be all for nothing. And how will she face Kairi again when the time for her comes too?

Saber takes a deep breath. She wraps her finger around the trigger, seemingly ready to pull it. But much to Gilgamesh's surprise, Saber detaches the ammunition clip from her Glock instead. As the clip lands on Gilgamesh's chest, Saber puts her Glock back into her pocket and shakes her head at him.

"Sorry. But I'm tired of you now." Saber said. "Besides…" She turns to Ricky and they both smile at each other. She looks back at Gilgamesh and a lopsided smirk appears on his face. "I got better things to do."

Gilgamesh stares back at Saber in shock and bewilderment. He watches her get off of him and walks over to Ricky and Mordred.

Saber smiles at Mordred as she places her hand on her shoulder. "Keep doing what I'm unable to do." She said.

A warm smile plasters across Mordred's face. She places her hand above Saber's and gave her a solemn nod. "Understood…Sergeant."

As they remove their hands, Saber looks back at Ricky and grabs his hand. As they stood there for a few moments, Ricky and Saber smile as they gaze into each other's eyes. As they turn around, they wrap their arms around their backs and walk away. Gilgamesh could only lie on the floor and watch the display in sorrow and disappointment.

As he continues watching, Mordred walks up to him and aims her shotgun at him. Gilgamesh turns his head and looks up at her, seeing the policewoman boldly staring down at him.

"On behalf of her Majesty's government, you are under arrest." She said to him coldly.

Gilgamesh closes his eyes and lets out a heavy sigh. He has accepted defeat, and the battle of London is over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, the final story arc has come to an end. But the story is not over yet as we still have the epilogue to get to. Stay tuned!


	32. Epilogue

Twenty minutes later, the City of London Police and the British military arrived at the construction site to invade Gilgamesh's hideout. Except by the time they arrived, they realized that the battle is over and Gilgamesh and his men have accepted defeat.

As the soldiers surround the area, the policemen arrest and escort surviving mercenaries into the back of their vans. The last people to step out of the building were Mordred, Miriam, Gilgamesh and a group of soldiers and heavily armored police officers.

Mordred is escorting Miriam who kept her head down in shame while her wrists and ankles are cuffed. Gilgamesh is behind them, being restrained with a straightjacket with belts wrapped around his arms and legs. His mouth is covered by a protective mask and he is placed and strapped onto a metal trolley with a soldier pushing him from behind. Gilgamesh didn't show any sign of movement and restrain as he laid there motionless with his brows furrowed.

" _The battle of London is over and peace is restored to the city. The perpetrators of the attacks at the Isle of Dogs, Gilgamesh, his lieutenant Miriam Young and 27 other men are arrested for their crimes against humanity. 271 others, including lieutenants Cornelius Alba and Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, are found and confirmed dead. The British military also sent a bomb disposal unit to disable the Grail missile and transport it out of London."_

* * *

Bazett stood behind the bar counter, cleaning some empty glass cups when she heard the door open. She looks up and widens her eyes in surprise when she sees who is standing at the doorway. It was Chulainn, and he gave a warm smile to her as he waves his hand. Bazett smiles back at him as she places the cup down and waves back.

As he kept the door open, Chulainn gestures the people outside of the bar to come inside. Saber, Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Illya, Yukari, Sakura, Kiritsugu, Maiya, Medusa, Ayako, Chiron, Caules and Fiore in her wheelchair all enter the place. Chulainn turns back to Bazett and asked her if they could reserve the entire bar for tonight. Bazett chuckled before saying yes.

" _As for us? The heroes who brought the terrorists to justice? We left the scene before the police and military arrived. Chulainn brought us to the old bar he worked at in Bolton where we had our celebration. Aside from a moment of silence for Sisigou, it was truly a night to remember. And the best part is, all of us were there. Thanks to our teamwork and the will to live, we all survived to celebrate our victory together, making it truly a battle worth fighting for."_

As they gathered around a large round table, everyone cheer and raise their glasses into the air before they all gulp down their beer. Afterwards, everyone sit down and spend the rest of the night celebrating. Shirou, Kiritsugu, Maiya and Ayako converse with each other to make up for the times they've missed since the disbanding of Team Kiritsugu. It was perfect moment for Kiritsugu and Shirou to finally have a proper conversation between father and son in a very long time.

Chulainn and Yukari had another beer drinking battle with each other as they had promised. Illya, Caules, Fiore, Rin and Sakura cheered as they watch. The battle quickly ended with Yukari finished drinking all of her beer, turning her glass upside down and placing it on the table. Chulainn stares dumbfounded. He places his near empty glass of beer on the table before slouching back on his chair with his head hang in defeat. Illya, Caules, Fiore, Rin and Sakura applauded as Yukari sits back down on her chair with her arms folded and a wide smile plastered across her face. Bazett laughed at Chulainn as she stood behind the bar counter.

Ricky, Saber, Medusa and Chiron laugh as well while sitting together at the other side of the table. Saber turns to Kiritsugu when he called her. Kiritsugu and Maiya explain to her about her current situation and Saber wordlessly stares back at them. Kiritsugu extends his hand out to Saber with a small smile. Saber smiled back at him as she shakes his hand.

" _After helping them stop Gilgamesh and preventing the Grail missile from being launched, Kiritsugu Emiya and Maiya Hisau have pardoned me for my past actions and fully accepted me as a member of the organization again. But that wasn't all, I've also regained the trust of my fellow teammates again, and I couldn't be happier."_

Saber felt Ricky placing his hand on her shoulder. She turns her head to see her second-in-command looking back at her with his mouth curved slightly into a smile. She looked around and also noticed Shirou, Rin, Illya, Chulainn and Yukari all smiling back at her. Saber elicited a blissful sigh. Of all the things she is rewarded tonight, nothing is better than regaining the trust of her friends.

When the celebrations are over, Chulainn and Bazett bid farewell to each other as everyone step out of the bar. They see four black SUVs parked outside with eight of Kiritsugu's men standing in a horizontal row on the pavement. Medusa and Sakura turn to each other as the latter holds up her arms. Medusa takes out her handcuffs and secured them around Sakura's wrists.

" _Sakura Matou and Kirei Kotomine are both arrested for their association with Matou Industries. With Zouken Matou dead, the two will stand trial on behalf of the now defunct company and explain every detail of their past operations."_

Sakura turns to Rin as she walks up to her. Rin helps adjusts her sister's collar and neck ribbon before placing her hand on her shoulder and looking back at Sakura with a despondent smile.

"Take care of yourself, Sakura." Rin said softly.

Sakura smiles back at her sister and assured, "Don't worry, Rin. We will see each other again."

Rin nods her head before giving Sakura a warm embrace. Sakura rests her head on her sister's shoulder and the two stayed in their embrace for a few moments. Rin eventually removes her arms and backs away from her sister. Sakura gave Rin one final smile before she turns around and leave with Medusa, Caules, Fiore, Chiron and Ayako escorting her to one of the SUVs.

Rin lowers her head as tears well up in her eyes. Shirou walks up to her from behind and places his hand on her shoulder. She turns around to see Shirou smiling at her and he gently wipes off the tears from her eyes.

"You still have us…and me." Shirou said softly. He and Rin both wrap their arms around each other and kiss as their lips made contact. A few moments later, they back away from each other, with Rin's arms wrapped around Shirou's neck, who in turn had his hands firmly placed on her waist. They turn to Kiritsugu, Maiya and their teammates who are standing nearby. They see Illya staring blankly at them for a moment before a warm smile plasters itself across her face. She nods her head to them as a sign of approval.

"It's about time." Ricky said to Shirou and Rin while Saber, Chulainn, Yukari and Maiya smiled at them.

"My son is finally all grown up." Kiritsugu said with his hands placed on the sides of his hip. Shirou and Rin laugh in response before looking back at each other and smile.

* * *

Kirei Kotomine walks down the hallways of the headquarters with his wrists cuffed. He is being surrounded and escorted by eight of Kiritsugu's men.

" _Kirei Kotomine is willing to cooperate with us in revealing the locations of every secret factory Matou Industries owned around the world, as well as working with our science division in creating an antidote for the Od serum. With Kotomine's assistance, I'm sure Sakura Matou will be back to normal and no longer considered a threat to humanity, along with Gilgamesh and Miriam Young. Within two weeks, all remaining 42 secret factories owned by Matou Industries, including their main hideout in Germany, were shut down, and a total of 1163 employees and mercenaries associated with them are arrested."_

* * *

Two days after the terrorist attacks, the police officers sit and gather in the assembly room inside the City of London Police Headquarters. At the center of the stage, Mordred stood in front of the mayor of London as he pins a medal onto her uniform. The commissioner and several high-ranking officers sat at the back of the stage and watch. Mordred and the mayor both salute to each other and everyone present in the assembly room stood up and applauded. Mordred turns to the audience with a wide smile on her face.

" _Finally, Mordred was promoted to superintendent for her bravery and valiant actions during the battle of London. After years of hard work and devotion to the City of London police, I couldn't be any more proud of her. And I'm sure Sisigou is also smiling down at her from the heavens right now."_

* * *

" _I never thought one day, we would finally put an end to Matou Industries, the company that we had a long history with. And thanks to the help of my new family, I also never thought I would finally be free from Gilgamesh's control. Now I honestly don't know what the future will hold for us. But I'm confident that as long as I have my team, we will always be ready for what happens next."_

Saber momentarily gazes at her laptop after she finished typing her document. She saves the file and closes her laptop before she gets up from her chair and leaves her office.

She makes her way to the top of the yacht and sees all of her teammates standing at the bow and looking out at the ocean. As Saber walks over to them, Rin lets out a heavy sigh as she places her arms on the railing.

"I never thought the day when Matou Industries is brought to Justice would ever arrive. I finally have closure now and my parents can also rest in peace." Rin said with a blissful smile.

"Now that our biggest enemy has ceased to exist, what are we going to do now?" Illya asked.

"What else?" Saber replied as she stuffs her hands into her pockets. "We'll continue travelling around and take down every scumbag in the world like we always do. Except this time of course, we'll do it without spilling too much blood."

"I like the sound of that." Ricky said with a smirk as he places his hands on the sides of his hip.

"Yup, that ain't bad." Chulainn agreed as he rubs his chin.

"And we're going to do it together, as both a team and a family." Shirou said solemnly.

"Aye!" Illya shouted enthusiastically as she pumps her fists into the air.

"Actually, about that…" Everyone turn their heads to Yukari. "I have something to talk to you all." She said to them. Everyone stare silently at her for a moment before Yukari takes a deep breath and announced, "I've decided to return back to Tokyo and become a teacher again."

Saber, Ricky, Chulainn, Shirou, Rin and Illya looked back at her in astonishment. Knowing that this is the reaction she would receive from her teammates, Yukari places her hand on her chest and explained, "I really want to thank you all for everything you have done for me. I left Tokyo and my job as a teacher because I was so scared of everything that had happened to me back then. But not anymore. Working and living with all of you for the past year has helped me regain my strength and self-confidence. Now I'm ready to return back to my old job to regain my passion for teaching again. Also through my experience as a mercenary, we have met criminals like Medea and even my former student Aizawa who tragically become what they are because they have lost their way. They were hopeless and in need of someone for help. And that's what made me remember why I became a teacher in the first place, not just because I love communicating with children, but also love to aspire them to become better people. And that's exactly how I'll do my part in making this world a better place for everyone." Yukari lowers her hand and clenches her fists tightly as she boldly stares back at her teammates. "I will work as a teacher again, so that I can show the right path for our next generation and prevent them from sharing the same tragic fates as the criminals we fought!"

As everyone stares back at her perplexed, Yukari's eyes softened as she asked them in concern, "So what do you say?" Yukari grew anxious, not knowing how her teammates would feel about her announcement. She truly desire to return to Tokyo and become a teacher again, but after everything she and her new friends have gone through together over the past year, she has no idea how they would react to her departure.

Suddenly, Saber walks up to her. Yukari took a gulp as they silently look into each other's eyes. Eventually, Saber extends her hand to Yukari and her eyes are brimmed with tears.

"Yukari…I have said before that you can always go back to being a teacher if you want to. And I am so happy to know that you truly desire to be one again." Saber said, struggling to fight back the tears that are continuing to well up in her eyes.

As she stares back at her boss, Yukari couldn't help but begin to cry as well. As tears form in her eyes, Yukari shakily holds up her hand and grabs Saber's. As the two women shook hands, Saber continued with her voice croaking, "On behalf of the team, I truly wish you nothing but the best. But there is just one thing you have to promise us."

"What is it, boss?" Yukari asked as her tears have managed to escape her eyes unchecked.

Saber took a hard gulp. "That you will never forget us as part of your family!" She cried as she is unable to hold back her tears any longer.

As Saber begins to weep, Yukari closes her eyes and nods her head, letting her tears stream down her cheeks. "Of course I will! You guys will always be the best friends and family that I ever had!" As Yukari began wailing in inconsolable grief, Saber wraps her arms around her and pulls her into a tight embrace. Her tears splash onto Yukari's clothes as she buries her face into her shoulder. Soon after, Yukari finds herself hugging her leader back as she continues crying.

Ricky, Shirou, Rin, Illya and Chulainn soon find themselves shedding tears as well. They go over to Saber and Yukari and wrap their arms around them. The whole team clung tightly to each other as they bid farewell to one of their members, who had been a valuable teammate and beloved friend to all of them.

"I'm going to miss you so much, Yukari!" Illya bawled as she burst out sobbing.

"I'll miss you too, Illya." Yukari managed to choke out. "I'll miss all of you!"

"I wish you nothing but the best too, Yukino-san." Shirou said, closing his eyes and letting his tears flow freely down his face.

Yukari sniffed and replied, "Arigatou, Emiya-kun."

"Please don't ever forget us, Yukari. Please don't." Ricky whimpered.

"Of course I won't, Ricky." Yukari sobbed back. "Promise me that you will continue to be a good man."

"I will." Ricky replied as he nods his head.

"Thank you for everything you have done for us, Yukari." Chulainn said softly as tears cascade down his cheeks.

"I thank you too, Chulainn…" Yukari paused for a moment to catch her breath. "And all of you…for taking such good care of me!"

"You were like an older sister to all of us, Yukari. We will never find another person like you!" Rin cried as she wept.

"You were like…" Yukari struggled to say between her sobs. "You're like a sister…to me too, Rin. So does Illya…and Saber…and Shirou, Ricky and Chulainn were like brothers! And I…I will always love you all…everybody in this team…thank you all so much!"

Everybody continue clinging onto each other as Yukari sobbed uncontrollably, her wails ringing throughout the ocean.

* * *

_**1 Week Later…** _

_**Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan** _

As Yukari sat in front of the principal of Shinjuku High School, she watched in amusement as the old man in his fifties examines the papers that she presented to him in astonishment.

At first, the principal was reluctant in letting Yukari enter the premises of his school again as he vividly remembers the scandal she got involved in three years ago. But he eventually agrees to conduct a job interview with her. To his surprise, the papers Yukari had presented to him were intriguing.

There were the usual resume and graduate certificates, but one of them is a twenty-page document written by an investigation team from Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, detailing Yukari's innocence over the incident that publicly humiliated her three years ago. The document ended with a final verdict from the investigation team that Yukari is wrongfully accused and a formally written pardon by Japan's minister of education.

Unbeknownst to the principal, the document was actually written by Maiya. Thanks to her penmanship, she created a document which convinces the principal to rehire Yukari as a teacher in his school. It also serves as a gift of appreciation from the organization to thank Yukari for her voluntary contributions in helping them shut down Matou Industries and stopping Gilgamesh.

The principal places the document down on his desk. With an enthusiastic smile on his face, the principal got up from his seat and extends his hand to Yukari. Yukari smiled back at him as she gets up and shakes his hand.

* * *

Later that day, Yukari and the principal enter the staffroom. As the teachers stood at their workstations, the principal introduces Yukari to them and she bows down to everyone. As soon as she stood up, Taiga rushes over to her and gave her a tight embrace.

Yukari chuckled and hugs her friend back as the other teachers walk up to her. As Taiga releases her and expresses how ecstatic she is to see her friend in Shinjuku High again, another familiar figure approached Yukari. It was Hitomi, momentarily letting down her strict demeanor and giving Yukari a rare smile. Yukari smiles back at her and the two teachers bow to each other.

* * *

That night, Yukari unlocks the door to her new apartment. She and her mother enter and turn on the lights. They widen their eyes in awe as their new home is larger and more spacious than Yukari's previous cramped apartment and her mother's even smaller apartment back in Inagi. Every room looked fairly large and all of the furniture had been set up and neatly placed.

As another gift of appreciation from the organization, Kiritsugu bought a new apartment in Shinjuku for Yukari and her mother. His organization had fully paid for the apartment and all of their new furniture.

Yukari turns to her mother who takes a deep breath, trying to comprehend their new home. She wraps her arms around her mother and gently pulls her into a warm embrace. Her mother chortled as she hugs her daughter back.

Since the death of her husband, Yukari's mother had never felt so much brighter and happier.

* * *

At the beginning of a new school year in Japan, Yukari enters her classroom and turns to her students. As they stood up, Yukari couldn't help but smile at all of them as she felt a strong sense of enthusiasm in becoming a teacher again. When she stood behind the desk, her students bow solemnly to her and she tells them to take their seats. She gives an introduction of herself to the class and later begins her first day as a teacher in Shinjuku High.

* * *

When evening falls, Yukari and the teachers clear up their workstations and prepare to leave the school. After putting her books and files into her bag, Yukari slings its strap over her shoulder and walks her way out of the staffroom.

When she slides the door open, she was surprised to see three of her students standing at the doorway. Standing in front of her and in the middle was Takao Akizuki, a boy with short and messy dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. Takao's cheeks blushed as he looked away from Yukari and stares down at the floor. One of his friends, Matsumoto, grins as he nudges Takao on the back of his left shoulder, much to his annoyance. His other friend, Satou, giggled as she watched.

As the three students look back at their teacher, Takao finally mustered enough courage to request Yukari if he could join her for dinner and have a discussion tonight. Yukari was perplexed at his request for a moment before she smiles at him and nods her head.

* * *

Taiga happily waves her hand at Yukari when she sees her and Takao stepping out of the school. Yukari hastily walks over to her and the two women squeal as they hold each other's hands.

The two teachers turn as Takao approaches them. Yukari introduces Taiga to her student and Takao bows his head to her. When he looks up at Taiga, he flinched as he sees her leaning forward with her arms folded and staring back at him suspiciously. But a moment later, Taiga exposed it all as a joke as she throws her head back and burst out laughing. Yukari giggled while Takao sighs in relief.

After shaking Takao's hand, Taiga places herself between him and Yukari and wraps her arms around them. As the three begin leaving the premises of the school, Yukari turns her head to the side and looks up at the sky. Her eyes softened as a blissful smile takes form on her face.

Although she is no longer with Saber and the others, back in Shinjuku and living a normal and peaceful life as a teacher again, she vows that no matter how many years have passed since, she will always keep them in her memory.

As she continues walking with her friend and student, Yukari turns her head back to the front, ready to face whatever the future holds for her next.

* * *

_**Some Time Later…** _

_**Venice, Italy** _

Saber and her teammates rode on a gondola through the Grand Canal along with Sella, Leysritt and Ricky's mother. After many months of fighting and shooting, Saber and her team earn themselves a well-deserved vacation in Italy. And as Ricky promised to his mother, he brought her along with them.

As they sail through the canal while looking at the gorgeous Venetian architecture around them, Rin elicits a blissful sigh as she leans her head onto Shirou's shoulder. "Having peace and quiet while travelling around the world with your friends and family. This is exactly how things should be." Rin said.

Illya pouts as she sat in front of them and beside Chulainn. "Can you two get a room?" She muttered as she watches the two.

"It's alright, Berserker." Shirou said, smiling sheepishly at her. "I ain't getting an erection from this."

Rin sputtered as she lifts her head up and looks at Shirou in shock. "ARCHER!" She cried as she gave a slap on Shirou's shoulder, causing him to laugh.

Ricky groans as he, Saber and his mother sat behind them. "Are these guys really two of the heroes who save the city of London?" Ricky commented with an arched eyebrow.

"Beats me." Saber shrugged. Ricky turns his head to Saber once more as he couldn't stop admiring the clothes and look that his boss has adorned. Instead of wearing her usual suit, Saber is currently dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt with a blue ribbon tied around its collar, a long blue skirt, black tight pants underneath it and brown boots. And instead of being tied to a long ponytail, her blonde hair is in a braided bun, tied with a blue ribbon.

"Still, Rider is right." Saber turns to Ricky and smiled at him. "It really is nice to have a break every once in a while."

"Aye." Ricky said softly as he nods his head. "And I gotta say, you sure look more beautiful in a dress."

"Perhaps it's the color blue that's making her attractive." Ricky's mother implied to her son. "Maybe a blue dress will suit your girlfriend."

Saber chuckled. "I'll think about that, ma'am."

Leysritt takes out a can of beer from a drinking bag and passes it to Chulainn as she and Sella sat behind him and Illya. Leysritt is currently wearing a dark tan and white shirt, blue denim shorts, white socks and red shoes while Sella is dressed in a tan long-sleeved shirt, a brown apron, a long dark tan skirt, black socks and light purple slippers.

Chulainn opens his can and drinks his beer. But after taking a sip, his brows furrowed as he passes it back to Leysritt. "Man, beer sure doesn't taste the same to me anymore when she's not around." He said as he looks down on the floor.

"We know how you feel. But I'm sure she's happy right now." Illya said to him.

"Caster is still doing her part to make this world a better place. And we should continue doing our own part for her sake." Saber said.

Chulainn looks up at Saber and smiled. "Right." He nodded solemnly. "We won't let her down." Saber, Ricky, Shirou, Rin and Illya nod their heads in agreement.

" _Hello? Are you all there?"_  Everyone suddenly heard Maiya speaking in their earpieces.

Saber places her finger on her earpiece and replied, "Right here, Maiya. What is it?"

" _Are you all enjoying your vacation in Venice so far?"_  Maiya asked.

"Absolutely!" Illya replied cheerfully.

" _That's good. But unfortunately, something just came up at your vicinity."_  Maiya said.

Illya drops her jaw for a moment before letting out a heavy, disappointed sigh. "Oh no…" She said miserably.

"What's going on, Maiya?" Saber inquired.

" _There's a heist happening right now at Venice's city bank and the robbers are heavily armed."_ Maiya explained.  _"Since you guys happen to be in the city, Kiritsugu and I are wondering if you all can take care of them. We're sorry for interrupting your vacation, but can you do this?"_

Saber looks around at her teammates and sees the eager looks on their faces. She smiles back at them before replying to Maiya, "We're ready to help out."

" _Thank you, Team Saber. Good luck."_  Maiya said.

After everyone removes their fingers from their earpieces, Saber instructs the gondolier to stop at the nearest dock. After paying the gondolier for the ride, everyone quickly got out of the gondola and head to the city pavement. They see their brand new Cadillac Escalade SUV, provided by Maiya and Kiritsugu, parked beside the curb.

"Sorry mom. But I have to go to work." Ricky said apologetically to his mother.

"It's okay. Just go take them down." His mother smiled at him. Ricky gave his mother a pat on her shoulder before he and his teammates rush over to the SUV. Sella and Leysritt stood behind his mother as they watch them prepare to make their departure.

As Saber and her teammates open the doors, they see their respective weapons placed on the seats. After grabbing their weapons and sitting down on their seats, Rin starts the engine and places her hands on the steering wheel. As Saber sat at the passenger seat, she turns to her teammates.

"Is everyone ready?" Saber asked. Her teammates nod their heads in response. She holds up her Glocks as she said, "We'll do this for Yukari."

"For Yukari." Her teammates said in unison.

Saber turns back to the front and she said with a determined smirk, "Now let's go kick some ass."

Rin steps on the gas pedal and the team drives off to the city bank, ready to take on their next mission.

_The End_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Song Suggestions:**
> 
>  
> 
> _Rain (Long Version) from Kotonoha no Niwa/The Garden of Words, sang by Motohiro Hata_ **(0:00 – 3:08 (After Yukari announces her desire to return to Tokyo and until the scene of her thanking her teammates after they made their farewells to her)) (3:09 – 7:21 (From Yukari having her job interview until the end of the scene of her, Taiga and Takao leaving the school together.))**
> 
> _Revolution by The Score_ **(After you have finished reading the story.)**
> 
> And with that, after nearly 14 months of work, _Dangerous Losers_ has officially come to an end. I am so happy and relieved to finally finish writing this story. I would have never done so if it wasn't for all of your support. So thank you to everyone who has read and left comments and kudos on this story.
> 
> Although this story has come to an end, my time here on this site is far from over as I have more story ideas in my mind that I wish to write next. So I hope you guys will continue to show your support for me as I move on to my next stories.
> 
> I hope to see you all again next time and until then, bye!


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